It's How You Play the Game
by Trace Carter
Summary: In the world of Remnant, there are dark forces that lurk behind the scenes and monsters that prowl the night, preying on the innocent. Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained to fight them, but now, an individual emerges with the power to change the the game. Gashat! I'm a Kamen Rider.
1. Stage 1: Game Start!

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **So I've recently been watching Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and decided to recreate my other story in this category as this (considering that I'm finding that the original premise was full of holes).**

 **So I'm going to be using a similar setting for the first chapter, so I apologize if it seems boring. It just means I can pump out chapter two faster.**

 **Disclaimer: Monty Oum owns RWBY and Toei owns Kamen Rider**

It was nighttime in the city of Vale and a figure stood atop a roof looking out at the land. His piercing grey eyes gazed out at several figures that were marching through the streets without a care as they headed to a Dust shop. He wore a black leather jacket over a red shirt and black pants and looked to be about 15 years old. The teen pulled out a neon yellow device with a pink lever and placed it on his waist, causing a belt to form that held the device to him, before pulling out an object that resembled a game cartridge. Holding it out in front of him, he pressed the button on the device, causing a pixilated wave to flow out as several brown cubes appeared in random places.

 **[Mighty Action X!]**

"It's time to work," said the teen as he twirled the cartridge and slotted it into his belt before pulling the pink lever across the belt, " _Henshin: Second Shift._ "

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

A light covered the teen and a holographic screen appeared in front of him that moved to envelop him. When the light faded, the figure was wearing a pink outfit with black highlights and a cybernetic breastplate with a digital gauge over the left pectoral. His face was a silver helmet with orange eyes and pink spikes that resembled hair.

Taking a running start, the teen jumped down into the street to deal with the crooks.

xXsceneXx

Rewind things a little bit and we find ourselves at the Dust shop, From Dust Till Dawn. As the broken moon shone high in the sky, several men in black suits with red ties walked toward the shop with a man holding a cane and wearing a white suit and black bowler hat in the lead. The men walked into the shop and approached the counter where an elderly man was manning the register.

"Well well," said the man in the bowler hat, "looks like we hit the jackpot boys Hand over the Dust, old man, and we'll leave without breaking anything...important."

The old man nodded and the thugs began to collect the powdered Dust from the tubes on the wall, while one pulled out a gun and pointed it at the shopkeeper.

"Crystals," said the thug, "Burn. Uncut."

The shopkeeper nodded frantically and handed the man the Dust Crystals he asked for. While the other thugs were cleaning out the shop's Dust stores, one guy noticed a figure in the back by the magazine stands. Walking closer, he saw that it was a girl wearing a black dress with a red hooded cloak that was listening to some music through wireless headphones as she looked through a weapons manual.

"Hey kid!" said the man as he leveled his gun at the girl, "Hands in the air, now!"

Unfortunately for the man, the girl was too into her music to hear him, so he spun her around, causing her to start in surprise as she saw the man. Taking her headphones off, she glanced at the thug curiously.

"Hands in the air kid!" repeated the man.

"Are you _mugging_ me?" asked the girl in an almost amused tone.

"Yeah," said the man as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," said the girl, who's name was Ruby Rose, before she blurred into motion.

The next thing the black suited thug knew was that he had been sent flying through the store, only coming to a stop after crashing through the window of the Dust shop and bouncing several times on the hard pavement of the road.

Ruby leapt out after him and landed lightly on her feet before spinning and unfolding her weapon of choice, a mechanical sniper-scythe that was colored red and black. The man in the bowler hat, a known criminal named Roman Torchwick, walked out of the shop with the rest of the men, having heard the commotion.

"Trying to play hero, Red?" asked Torchwick, "Get her!"

Several thugs attacked Ruby, swinging their swords at her, but she only smiled and pulled the trigger on her Scythe, activating the rifle function so she could use the recoil as a boost forward, allowing her to slam her boots into a thug's chest before flipping back and knocking out a second one with a swing of her scythe. She continued this combo by firing several more rounds, taking out two more goons while using the recoil boost to slam her weapon into her opponents' bodies, sending them sprawling onto the ground.

"Dear Monty," swore Roman, "what am I paying you for?! She's just a kid! Take her out!"

The thugs rushed at the girl in a swarm, but she displayed considerable skill and agility with her rather large weapon and dispatched most of the men before taking a shot in the side, her Aura being the only thing keeping her from getting a hole blown in her hip.

"Sorry Red," said Torchwick as he prepared fire another shot from his cane/gun, the barrel still smoking from the shot he landed in her hip, "but playtime's over."

Just when Roman was about to pull the trigger, a pixilated wave flowed over the street, causing brown cubes to appear.

"Damnit," swore Roman, "not this again."

Just as Roman was about to act, the armored figure landed between him and Ruby with a strange hammer-like weapon in his hand. He quickly dispatched the rest of the goons with strikes from his weapon and several kicks and punches.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby as she stared at the figure.

"Kamen Rider Ex-Aid," said the figure, "Roman Torchwick, I won't let you leave with that Dust."

"Kamen Rider?" frowned Roman, "You're the one that's been disrupting our operations for the past month. Well boys, we've got what we need. Let's bail!"

Roman pulled out a Fire Dust crystal and threw it in the air before shooting it to create a flash-bang to cover their escape, "Better luck next time."

When Ruby and Ex-Aid uncovered their eyes, they could see Roman escaping via a fire escape and heading toward a rooftop. Ruby immediately used her Semblance to speed after the thief, landing in front of him on the roof.

"Gotta say Red," said Torchwick, "you got spunk."

Suddenly a Bullhead airship rose up behind Torchwick, allowing the man to hop aboard while Ruby shielded her face from the winds it whipped up.

"Too bad it won't be enough!" yelled Roman over the roar of the engines before he raised his weapon and fired another shot at the girl.

Ruby closed her eyes, knowing she wouldn't be able to defend herself against the attack, but when the explosion happened, she felt no pain or heat from the blast. Looking up, she saw the armored figure that called himself a Kamen Rider was standing in front of her, having shielded her from the shot with his own body.

"Tch," said Roman, "damn interloper. I don't know who you are, but I'm not gonna be stopped by some freak in a suit!"

The man grabbed two more Dust Crystals and hurled them at the Kamen Rider before hitting them with two shots from his weapon, causing a massive explosion.

"That'll take care of um," muttered Roman, "…wait."

The crook squinted his eyes to see through the debris cloud, and when he could, his eyes widened in shock. For standing on the roof, shielding the Rider and Ruby with an intricate Dust Array, was a woman with blond hair holding a riding crop in her hand. The woman, whose name was Glynda Goodwitch, snapped the crop forward, sending a barrage of energy blasts that slammed into the aircraft.

"Damnit," said Roman before he turned to the person in the pilot's seat, "we got ourselves a Huntress!"

Torchwick switched places with the female pilot and she moved to the open door. The designs on her dress began to glow like fire and she prepared to fight. Just as she did that, Glynda cast another technique, causing a storm cloud to form over the ship that rained jagged daggers of ice that embedded themselves into the Bullhead's hull. The woman countered by sending blasts of fire from her hands that exploded against a shield that Glynda quickly erected around herself. Where the embers struck the ground, they began to glow like magma, causing Glynda to move the three of them out of the way as the embers exploded violently.

To counter the woman's attack, Glynda used her power to manipulate the rubble around them into sharp fragments that formed into a spear that shot at the Bullhead. The woman aiding Torchwick waved her hands, creating several explosions that shattered the spear, but Glynda used her power to reform it and slam it into the airship before splitting into smaller arrows that slammed into the hull again. The woman managed to counter by using her powers to detonate the shards, leaving only ashes.

Ruby decided to help out and fired several shots from her weapon that the woman aiding Torchwick blocked with ease. The woman then waved her hand, creating a blazing ring under their feet, forcing Glynda to move the group out of the way as the roof detonated, allowing the Bullhead to escape with ease.

"Dang," said Ex-Aid as he removed the game cartridge-like device from his belt, dispelling the armor on his body, leaving him in his civilian clothes, "that was a bust."

He watched as Ruby eagerly asked the older woman for her autograph, and sighed as Glynda glared down at the two of them.

' _This night is going well,_ ' the teen thought sarcastically.

xXsceneXx

"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger," said Glynda sternly as she chastised the two teens as they sat at a table in a darkened room, where they had been taken after the incident.

"They started it," protested Ruby, getting a chuckle from the other teen and a glare from Glynda.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…and a slap on the wrist," said Glynda as she punctuated that statement by slamming her crop onto the table, causing Ruby to yelp, "but... there is someone here who would like to meet you."

The teen and Ruby looked up to see an older man wearing green walking into the room with a mug and a plate of cookies.

"Ruby Rose," said the man as he looked closely at the girl's face, "you have silver eyes."

"Um…" said Ruby, unsure how to respond.

"And you," said the man as he looked over the male teen, "I don't believe that I've seen abilities like yours before."

The teen shrugged, "My father developed it."

"Your father?" asked Ruby.

"Aloquin Carter," said the teen, "CEO and chief developer of Hyperion, the game and software company. I'm his son Kazi Carter."

"Your father is Aloquin Carter?!" exclaimed Ruby, "The games he develops are amazing! My sister and I love playing Gekitotsu Robots!"

"It's no big deal really," said Kazi, "but yeah, he designed my gear and gave it to me."

"I see," said the man as he showed a recording of the fight, "so, where did the two of you learn to fight like this?"

"Signal Academy," said Ruby nervously.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" asked the man as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well," said the girl, "it was one teacher in particular."

"I see," said the man as he placed the plate of cookies on the table, causing Ruby to quickly begin eating them, "I've only seen one other scythe-wielder like you before. A dusty old crow in fact."

"That's my uncle!" exclaimed Ruby happily.

"I see the resemblance," said the man, "now what about you, Mister Carter?"

"I guess you could say that I'm self taught," said Kazi.

"So you've never attended any combat schools?" asked the man, "You look close to Miss Rose's age, yet you handled yourself quite well in that fight."

Kazi simply shrugged, "It's amazing what you can learn by analyzing the mechanics of video games and how the players move."

"Well," said the man, "I must say I'm impressed and would like to offer you two an opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity?" asked Ruby.

"Well," said the man, "do you know who I am?

"You're Professor Ozpin," said Ruby, "the headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Yes," said Ozpin, "that is correct."

Pausing to take a sip from his mug he gave the two teens a mysterious look, "How would the two of you like to attend my school?"

 **And thus ends Chapter 1 of the rewrite. Please tell me if you think this one was better than the original.**

 **Also to note: my OC Ex-Aid will not have access to the Mighty Brothers XX Gashat, but he might get the level 99 mode later…much later. He will also have access to 4 of the 5 Level 3 Gashats and the Level 5 Gashat. There will be an OC villain too using a Buggle Driver.**

 **Anyways, enough spoilers. Please come back for more. :)**


	2. Stage 2: New Game Loading

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid belongs to Toei and RWBY is the creation of Monty Oum.**

As Kazi looked out the window of the airship that was taking him and many other students to Beacon Academy, he couldn't help but reflect that he never actually saw himself becoming a Huntsman when he first received his Gashats and the Gamer Driver.

"It's interesting the paths life takes us on," he mused as he pulled out his Mighty Action X Gashat.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion behind him and when he turned, he saw the Red-haired girl from the Dust store robbery being hugged by a busty blond that was closer to his age.

Deciding to approach them her walked over and smiled, "I should've known I'd see you here, Miss Rose."

xXsceneXx

Ruby Rose was having mixed feelings about being admitted to Beacon Academy. While she was happy that she could attend with her sister and become a Huntress, she felt out of place as the youngest student in their year. Her sister Yang however, had different feelings entirely.

"Ooh, I'm so excited that my little sister is coming to Beacon!" Yang Xiao Long exclaimed as she pulled Ruby into a tight bear hug.

"Can't…breathe…" gasped out Ruby, causing her sister to put her down.

"I'm so proud of you," said Yang, "aren't you excited to become a Huntress?"

"I guess," shrugged Ruby, "I just don't want people to think I'm special or something."

Yang was about to answer but she saw a teen wearing a black fedora walk up and looked at him curiously.

"I should've known I'd see you here Miss Rose," said the teen, causing Ruby to turn around.

"Oh," said Ruby, "you're Kazi, right? They guy that can transform into that superhero form?"

"That's me," chuckled Kazi, "and I'm called Ex-Aid in that form, Miss Rose."

"Right," chuckled Ruby, "and it's Ruby."

"So what are you, some kind of transforming super hero?" asked Yang.

Kazi glanced at her, "I don't believe we've been introduced ma'am."

"Oh right," said Yang, "I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's sister."

"Ah," said Kazi, "I see. And as for your question, I guess you could call me that."

Kazi chuckled but his attention was called to a video screen that turned on with a picture of Glynda Goodwitch that began to speak.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon," said Glynda.

"Who's that?" asked Yang.

As if she had heard the blonde's question, the video spoke, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh," said Yang as she was caught a bit off guard.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy!" said the video, "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, and it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

Having said its part, the video shut off and the students all rushed to the window to admire the view of Vale as the airship flew over it.

"Wow," said Ruby, "I can see Signal from here!"

"You went to Signal Academy right? What was it like?" said Kazi.

"It was fun," said Ruby, "I went there for several years. You never attended a combat school, right?"

"You never went to a combat school?" asked Yang, "How'd you get accepted into Beacon then?"

"The same way as Ruby here, I'd imagine," said Kazi as he looked out the window.

"How'd you get your gear?" asked Ruby, "Did you build it yourself?"

"Nah," said Kazi, "My father sent them to me."

"Oh yeah," said Ruby, "your father owns Hyperion, right?"

"That's right," said Kazi.

"Wait," said Yang, "your father is Aloquin Carter, the genius game creator?"

"You caught me," said Kazi, "but don't spread that around. I'd rather be my own person than be always thought of only as my father's son."

"Hey no prob," said Yang, "I'm _game_ for that."

He chuckled while Ruby groaned at the pun as the airship landed and the group disembarked. As he walked off, he noticed

xXsceneXx

Later, Kazi was walking through the school courtyard when he heard a loud explosion. Rushing over he saw a white haired girl wearing an equally white outfit standing over Ruby, berating her as the redhead sat dazed in a small crater on the ground.

"What's going on?" asked Kazi as he walked up.

"What's going on is this blockhead just detonated several ounces of Dust!" growled the white girl, "I mean seriously, doesn't anyone read Dust handling and safety brochures?"

"You mean the ones that say that Dust must always be transported in sealed containers and never jostled about in a manner that could let particles leak out and mix lest there be explosive results?" asked Kazi with a raised eyebrow as he picked up one of the bottles of Dust on the ground and tightened the seals.

The girl in white blushed and sputtered a bit before glaring at Kazi, "Who _are_ you? Aren't you two a bit young to be attending Beacon?"

"You're Kazi Carter," said a calm voice as a black haired girl walked up, "son of Aloquin Carter and key developer in several of Hyperion's newer games, including Bang Bang Shooting and Taddle Quest."

Seeing that Kazi had a questioning look on his face, the girl elaborated, "Your name and picture is in your father's biography detailing your relationship and your hand in developing the concepts of the games."

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Weiss as she glanced between the girl and Kazi.

"And you're Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of Dust in the world," added the girl as she glanced at Weiss.

"Also," she added as the girl seemed to get puffed up, "the same company is infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

"Why you…ARGH!" growled the now named Weiss before she stormed off with her luggage.

"So…I'm Ruby," said Ruby to the black haired girl, but she didn't answer and simply turned and walked away, "okay then."

"You okay, Ruby?" asked Kazi as he helped the girl up.

"Yeah," said Ruby, "I guess I'm not having a good first day."

"First days can be like that," said Kazi.

"But you never said you helped develop games!" exclaimed Ruby, changing the subject abruptly.

Kazi simply chuckled and the two of them continued to talk as they made their way toward the auditorium where they would have their Orientation as new students of Beacon.

xXsceneXx

"Hey Ruby!" Yang called out as she spotted her sister, "I saved you a seat. How's your first day going Little Sis?"

"Terrible," said Ruby, "after you went and ditched me, I EXPLODED!"

"Yikes," said Yang, "had a meltdown already?"

"No," said Kazi, "from what I saw, she got caught in a minor Dust explosion due to an accident."

"Yeah," said Ruby, "if Kazi hadn't been there, then who knows what would have happened."

"Oh?" smirked Yang as he looked over the teen Rider, "You wouldn't be trying to hit on my little sister, are you?"

Both Ruby and Kazi's faces blushed as red as the girl's trademark hood.

"It's not like that!" protested Ruby.

"Yeah," said Kazi as he glanced away embarrassed, "I just thought she could use help."

"You two are too easy," laughed Yang before the room went quiet as Ozpin walked onto the stage.

"I'll be brief," said Ozpin, "as I look out at all of you, I see children that plan to dedicate their time and energy to learning new skills to better protect the people in our world, yet that energy is wasted and lacks a true direction and understanding. Knowledge is not free, and nor shall it grant you the power to defeat the Grimm. This school will help you by teaching you to channel that knowledge and direct its flow, allowing you to achieve your fullest potential. If you so wish this to come to pass, you must simply choose to take the first step."

At this, Glynda stepped forward and curtly addressed the crowd, "You will all gather in the ballroom tonight and tomorrow you will begin your initiation. Be ready, for it will not be easy. You are dismissed."

 **And that's it for that chapter. Next up, we'll be covering the initiation and you'll find out which team Ex-Aid will be joining. There will also be a classical literature reference hidden in there so kudos if you spot it.**

 **See you next game.**


	3. Stage 3: Level 1: The Emerald Forest

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Hello and welcome back. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter. Be sure to favorite and follow and review, but if you're just going to complain without offering a way to make my story better, don't. I try to make as many people happy as possible, but I still have a plan for this story that I want to follow as best I can. I apologize if you don't like how I do things, but don't just post complaints. That's really rude.**

 **Anyways.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

That night, Ruby was lying in her sleeping area in the ballroom, writing a letter to her friends back at Signal about her (mis)adventures so far at Beacon, when Yang plopped down next to her with a grin.

"This is awesome," said Yang, "it's just like a big slumber party!"

"Yeah," said Ruby, "but I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys though."

"So what're you writing?" asked Yang.

"It's just a letter to my friends back at Signal," said Ruby, "I kind of had to leave abruptly so I promised to write and tell them how things were going."

"Don't feel so down Rubes," said Yang, "you're already making new friends."

"I don't think Weiss counts," said Ruby dryly as she put her pen down.

"I was talking about Kazi," said Yang, "you two seemed pretty friendly."

"Yaaang," groaned Ruby, "I already told you it's not like that."

"C'mon," said the blond as she ignored her sister's embarrassment, "let's go see if we can find him."

Yang half-led/half-dragged Ruby around the other students that were preparing to sleep, eventually finding the teen they were looking for playing a game on a handheld device that was attached to a laptop. His sleep attire was a black long sleeve T-shirt with designs that resembled the buttons on a gamepad, and a pair of sweat pants.

"Kazi," said Ruby happily as she saw the teen.

"Oh hi Ruby, Yang," said the Kamen Rider without looking up from the device in his hand.

"Are you ok?" asked Ruby as she noted how focused he was on the handheld device.

"Yeah," said Kazi, "just working on an upgrade for Ex-Aid."

Yang looked over the teen's shoulder and raised an eyebrow, "…you're playing Gekitotsu Robots."

There was a flash on the screen and Kazi sighed as Game Over flashed across the display. The teen shrugged and began to explain as he packed up his gear.

"When I play certain games on that console, it allows my computer to collect data on the games that are eventually transmitted into Gashats, the cartridges I use with my Gamer Driver. If I complete the game data that my father sends me and imprint it onto a blank Gashat, of which I have several, then I gain an upgrade in my powers."

"You upgrade your powers by playing games?" asked Ruby, "That's kind of convenient."

"Not as much as you'd think," said Kazi, "I need to beat an entire game with no continues or saves to get the combat data I need."

"But anyway," he said as he closed up his laptop and put away his gear, "how's Beacon been so far for you?"

"Not that great," sighed Ruby, "I haven't been making a lot of good first impressions."

"I don't know about that," said Kazi, "my first impression of you was rather favorable."

"See there you go Ruby," said Yang, "thing's aren't that bad."

"If you say so," said Ruby.

"Give it time," said Kazi, "things don't often look that good on the first day, but given time, you can find some good friends that will stand by you."

"Maybe you're right," said Ruby, "and like Yang said, you're my friend, right?"

"Right," said Kazi with a chuckle, "now let's get some sleep tonight…unless you think you can beat me at Gekitotsu Robots?"

"Oh you are SO on," said Yang as she took a handheld console that Kazi offered her.

Ruby smiled as she watched her sister begin to play against her new friend before going back to the letter she was writing to her friends back at Signal. Maybe she should mention that things weren't as bad as she first thought, and she was already making some new friends.

xXsceneXx

The next morning, the group of prospective students ate, dressed and assembled on the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest.

"Now," said Ozpin, "before you is the location where you will face your Initiation test, the Emerald Forest."

Taking a sip from his cup of coffee, Ozpin gazed over at the teens wearing varied battle outfits with weapons at their side, before continuing his speech, "Within this forest, several special Relics have been hidden. Your mission today, is to retrieve one of these artifacts and bring it back here to these mountains."

Looking out over the tree line, Ozpin smiled slightly, "Be warned though, dangerous Grimm inhabit these woods, and if you aren't careful, you will die. Because of this, you will be assigned partners for the course of your stay at this Academy. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with shall be your partner."

Kazi glanced over at Ruby and almost sighed when he saw the absolutely horrified expression on her face at the almost random selection of partners that would be employed during this examination.

"Now then," said Ozpin, "take your positions."

The students got into ready stances as they stood upon metal platforms that were set into the cliffs. Kazi watched them and reached into his jacket for his Gashat, wondering if he should change now or after he arrived.

"Um, excuse me," said a blond student that wore white armor, "I have a question. How are we going to be getting to the forest?"

"You will be using your Landing Strategy," said Ozpin as a student was launched off the cliff by the platform he stood upon.

' _Crap!_ ' thought Kazi as he scrambled for his Gashat, ' _that answers that._ '

"Right," said the blond student, "so we're getting parachutes or something?"

"No," said Ozpin calmly, "you will be falling."

As Yang was launched into the air with a grin, Kazi quickly attached the Gamer Driver to his waist and pressed the button on his Gashat, causing a pixilated wave to flow outwards

 **[Mighty Action X!]**

"Wait, mighty action-GAH!" exclaimed the student as he was launched through the air as Kazi's Gashat distracted him.

" _HENSHIN, FIRST SHIFT!_ " yelled Kazi right before he was launched through the air, barely having enough time to slot the Gashat into the driver's Primary slot.

 **[Let's Game! Metcha Game! What's your name?! I'm a Kamen Rider!]**

A holographic screen appeared in front of Kazi, causing him to fly through it as bulky white armor appeared on his body, making him look like a large chibi-fighter.

The other students watched in surprise as Kazi, or rather Ex-Aid bounced off several cubes that had appeared in the air before slamming into the trees, crashing through several and coming to a stop on the grass.

"Ok," said Ex-Aid as he looked over his slightly scuffed Action Gamer Level 1 armor, "I guess that could've gone worse."

Flexing his arms, he headed off through the trees at a light jog. He could hear the creatures rustling through the forest, and quickly summoned his weapon from a holographic card that flew around his body as he ran.

 **[Gashacon Breaker!]**

As he held the weapon in hammer mode, he wondered what kind of Relics were hidden within the forest for them to find, and what kinds of hiding places would be chosen for them.

xXsceneXx

"I must say that I continue to be surprised at Mister Carter," said Glynda as she looked at a surveillance video of the forest on her Scroll.

"Why is that Glynda?" asked Ozpin as he sipped from his mug.

"I've never seen anything like that armored form of his," said Glynda, "he had no formal training in a combat school either if I am not mistaken."

"That is correct," said Ozpin, "but I think we will be pleasantly surprised by young Mister Carter."

Nodding, Glynda glanced back at her scroll, looking over footage of the other students as they made their way through the forest, some of them with their partners, and some without, all of them wary of the dangers lurking in the forest.

"On the topic of the initiation, Ozpin," said Glynda, "what did you use for Relics this year?"

Ozpin simply smiled and sipped from his mug as he leaned on his cane.

xXsceneXx

"Helloooooooo? Is anyone out there? Helloooo?" called out Yang as she wandered through the forest, "I'm getting bored here."

She had been walking for a while, but she hadn't come across anyone or anything, be they Grimm or other students. She was getting annoyed and hoped she'd meet someone or something soon before she died of boredom.

"Is someone there?" she called out as she heard rustling in the bushes, "Ruby, is that you?"

Suddenly an Ursa Minor Grimm emerged from the plants with a loud roar, causing Yang to jump back and activate her Ember Celica gauntlets.

"Nope!"

The blond brawler rolled to the side as the beast charged at her, firing several shots to boost her into the air, just as another Ursa emerged and attacked as well.

Flipping over the second beast, Yang fired several shots into its back before landing on her feet and delivering a devastating punch-kick combo that sent the Grimm crashing through several trees before it skidded to a stop and dissolved.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you? Or a grey-eyed gamer kid?" asked Yang, getting a roar from the remaining Grimm, "Guess that's a no."

The beast angrily took several swipes at the blond Huntress-in-training, which she was able to quickly dodge before flipping back to put some room between them.

"Geeez," she laughed, "you can't hit the broad side of a ba…"

Suddenly, she saw a strand of golden hair fall to the ground, and a look of horrified anger crosses her face as her lilac eyes become bright red and her aura blasts around her like fire.

"YOU **MONSTER!** " she yelled as she charged at the beast.

xXsceneXx

Meanwhile, Ex-Aid was making his way through the forest in his Level 1 form when he heard a loud explosion in the distance.

"The hell was that?" muttered Ex-Aid as he looked around, "Sounded like someone's seriously pissed off."

Suddenly, several Beowolves leapt out of the bushes with a roar and began to circle the Kamen Rider, causing him to tense and raise the hammer weapon in his hand.

"Well," said Ex-Aid, "looks like I'll be getting some action after all."

The lupine Grimm howled and lunged at the Gamer Rider, causing him to have to roll out of the way to avoid getting a chunk torn out of his armor by their teeth. Swinging the Gashacon Breaker, Kazi sent one of the wolves flying into a tree before slumping to the ground and disintegrating. The other Beowolves tried to attack from behind, but Ex-Aid jumped backwards over them and landed a drop-kick on one and smashed the skull of another with his hammer.

"Anyone else?" asked Ex-Aid, causing the remaining Beowolves to flinch slightly as if they recognized a significant threat in the Kamen Rider, "I won't even need to level up."

One Grimm felt brave and charged, but the Kamen Rider swung his hammer and landed a powerful blow that sent the Beowolf flying into the rest of the pack where they tumbled across the ground in a tangle of claws and limbs. As the beasts tried to right themselves, the Rider leapt into the air and swung his hammer down as he descended, slamming the Grimm with a powerful blow that shook the forest and left a small crater around their disintegrating remains.

"Well now," said Ex-Aid, "time to find those Relics."

 **So if you're thinking that Ex-Aid beat the Grimm too easily, it's because they are relatively weak ones. Higher level Grimm, like a Giant Nevermore, a Dragon, or even a Deathstalker, will be significantly harder for him to beat alone.**

 **In any case, tell me if you liked it. I'm off to write my next chapter.**


	4. Stage 4: Raid Boss!

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Hello again (dodges copyright lawsuit from Pyrrha) than you all for coming back to see this latest chapter. I hope it lives up to your expectations.**

 **Note: The classic literature reference was unfortunately cut from last chapter, but it is here in this one. See if you can spot it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

"…I think we're lost," sighed Ruby as she followed Weiss through the Emerald Forest.

The two of them had met up in the forest, much to the heiress's dismay, and now the two of them were partners in the initiation. Weiss was less than impressed with the hood wearing teen and had immediately taken point, leading them through the trees until they found themselves standing in a clearing, utterly lost.

"I don't need you to tell me that!" snapped Weiss.

"I'm just saying," said Ruby, "we maybe should have taken the path back there and followed the river!"

"I know exactly where we are," growled Weiss, "I don't need you to tell me where to go."

"Then where are we?" asked Ruby as he patience began to be worn thin.

"W-well," said Weiss, a bit caught off guard.

"You don't know, do you?" groaned Ruby in exasperation.

"You know what," snapped Weiss, "just because you got into Beacon early, doesn't mean you're any better than me!"

"Well at least I'm not a know-it-all who think's she's perfect!" Ruby shot back.

"I'm not perfect. Not yet," said Weiss, "but at least I'm leagues better than you."

With that, Weiss turned on he heel and continued through the trees, leaving a crestfallen Ruby standing there murmuring, "…but you don't even know me."

Seeing as her partner wasn't going to wait for her, Ruby quickly hurried after Weiss's retreating form, not noticing a large black feather that fell to the ground behind her.

xXsceneXx

Meanwhile in another part of the forest, Jaune Arc, the blond student that had had questions about Landing Strategies, and Pyrrha Nikos, a redhead wearing a gold and red set of armor, were exploring a dark cavern with Jaune holding a flaming torch to light the way.

"Jaune," said Pyrrha, "I…don't think this is where the relic is hidden."

"It's classic treasure hunting 101," said Jaune with a shrug, "valuable objects are always hidden in dark caverns."

"I'm not sure about this," said Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha," said Jaune, "I made the torch. Can you humor me for a few more feet?"

The redhead sighed slightly and silently followed the blond deeper into the cavern as they traversed the dark tunnel, guided only by the light of the blazing torch. Suddenly the two of them saw a glowing object floating in the gloom, giving off a warm light that drew Jaune in.

"Pyrrha, it's the relic!" exclaimed Jaune.

"Jaune," said Pyrrha, "something doesn't seem right."

Ignoring his partner's warning, Jaune dropped the torch and made to grab the glowing object, only for it to dart out of his grasp.

"No," grunted Jaune as he jumped for the object, "bad relic!"

Jaune continued to jump and finally managed to grab the object in a bear hug, but was filled with horror when the object moved and its light illuminated the face of a Deathstalker Grimm.

xXsceneXx

While all this was happening, Yang had made it to the temple with the black haired girl that had identified Kazi after Ruby's incident with Weiss. Her name was Blake Belladonna and she had become Yang's partner after the blond's fight with the Ursai in the forest.

"Looks like we've made it," said Yang with a smile as they walked up to the ruins.

"I don't think we were the first," said Blake stoically as she looked over the ruins.

Standing among the ruins were several raised pedestals, with some of them holding random chess pieces of various colors. Several pieces were missing, indicating that several other teams had arrived and retrieved these 'relics' beforehand.

"So we just take one, right?" said Yang as she picked up a white knight chess piece, "How about a cute little pony?"

Blake gave an amused smirk as her partner placed the chess piece safely down the front of her shirt, before noticing something in the sky overhead.

Suddenly a scream broke through the air, causing Yang to look up, "Sounds like some girl is in trouble."

xXsceneXx

"Pyrrha! This is not the relic!" yelled Jaune in terror, having let out a scream earlier at seeing the giant scorpion Grimm.

The blond swordsman was holding on the Death Stalker's stinger for dear life as it tried to shake him off while chasing his red haired partner through the tunnel.

"Hold on Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha as they exited the tunnel and she spun, transforming the spear in her hand into a rifle before firing several shots at the large Grimm.

"What do you think I'm doing?" yelled Jaune before the Grimm finally managed to shake the boy off and send him flying.

"Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha as she ran after him, the Grimm hot on her tail.

xXsceneXx

"Gangway!" yelled a voice, startling the Blake out of her musings as the chibi form of Ex-Aid burst through the trees with a Beowolf on his tail.

"What the…" said Blake in surprise as the armored figure turned about face and slammed the hammer weapon in his hand into the lupine Grimm.

"FORE!" yelled Ex-Aid as the Grimm was sent flying over the treetops and into the distance, becoming a twinkle of light in the sky.

"Well," said Yang, "that's one way to make an entrance."

"Who…are you?" asked Blake as she gave the Kamen Rider a skeptical glance.

"Who me?" asked Ex-Aid before standing up proudly, "I'm the Kamen Rider that Exists to Aid those in need: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid."

"Kamen Rider?" said Blake in confusion.

"Wait," said Yang, "Ex-Aid…is that you, Kazi? This goofy armor is supposed to be your superhero getup?"

"It's just the Level 1 form," said Ex-Aid as he crossed his arms, "Level 2 is a lot cooler."

"If you say so," said Yang.

"So these are the relics," mused Kazi as he looked over the chess pieces before picking up a red queen piece and placing it…somewhere in his armor, "so we just have to bring these back to the mountains?"

Blake was about to answer, when she noticing something approaching quickly from above: a certain red haired, hood-wearing girl yelling, "Look out below!"

"Ruby?" said Ex-Aid in surprise before making a spectacular jump, plucking the falling girl out of the air, and landing safely on his feet, "So, just dropping in?"

Ruby just groaned at the bad joke, while Yang laughed, "That was terrible. Wait, who are you?"

"It's me," said Ex-Aid, "Ex-Aid."

"Kazi?" asked Ruby, "What happened to your cool armor?"

"This armor is cool too," protested Ex-Aid, getting a chuckle from Ruby, "So does this make us partners?"

"Sorry," said Ruby as she got to her feet, "but I've kinda already found a partner."

"Really?" asked Ex-Aid, "Who?"

"Um, her," said Ruby sheepishly, as she pointed to a large avian shape that was circling overhead.

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?" yelled Weiss from where she was hanging from the avian Grimm.

"I told you to jump," Ruby yelled back.

"I think she's gonna fall," said Ex-Aid.

"Looks like it," agreed Yang.

"She's falling," commented Blake as Weiss lost her grip and began to plummet to the ground.

Ex-Aid was about to jump again to catch the heiress, but his intervention was not needed, as at that moment, Jaune came flying out of the trees and caught her in the air. The two of them floated there for a second before gravity asserted itself and they fell to the ground to lie in a heap.

"My hero," said Weiss mockingly.

"My back," groaned Jaune from under her.

"Did you two just ride a Nevermore here?" asked Blake.

Before the red and white duo could answer, a large Ursa Minor burst from the forest with a roar before slumping to the ground, dead, revealing an orange haired girl dressed in pink and white that was riding it.

"Aww," pouted the girl, "it's broken."

"Nora," panted a green clad boy that emerged from the trees with black hair that had a streak of pink, "don't ever do that again."

"C'mon Ren," pouted the girl before she noticed the chess pieces and dashed over to grab a rook piece, "~I'm queen of the castle. ~I'm queen of the castle."

"Nora!" said Ren sharply, prompting the girl to stop with her singing.

"Did those two just ride here on a Ursa?" asked Blake.

Once again, before anyone could answer, Pyrrha burst from the trees with the Deathstalker still hot on her tail.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" asked Blake.

" **I can't take it anymore!** " yelled Yang as fire erupted around her, " **Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!** "

"So," said Yang, "the gang's all here! Now we can die together!"

"Not if I can help it!" yelled Ruby as she rushed forward to attack the Deathstalker.

"Ruby no!" yelled Ex-Aid as he tried to stop her.

The red-clad girl charged at the giant scorpion and attacked with her scythe, but was easily knocked back by the beast's claws, though she did give Pyrrha time to get away.

"D-Do-Don't worry!" said Ruby shakily, "Totally fine!"

Ruby turned and shot the Deathstalker with her weapon and was about to jump away, when the Nevermore from overhead fired off a razor sharp feather that pinned her hood to the ground.

"Ruby, get out of there!" yelled Yang.

"I'm trying!" said Ruby as she tugged on her hood.

Unfortunately, the girl was unable to free herself as the scorpion Grimm bore down on her and prepared to impale her with its stinger, but just as it was about to strike, a white blur shot forward and trapped the stinger in ice.

"What?" said Ruby in surprise as she looked up.

"You are so childish," said Weiss from where she stood in front of Ruby.

"Weiss?" asked Ruby in surprise.

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style," continued Weiss as she pulled her weapon out of the ice she had made, "and I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off," said Ruby, "I want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine," said Weiss as she turned and walked back to the others.

Ruby hurried back to the group where she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by her sister. Once she managed to pull away, the group began to survey their situation.

"Guys," said Jaune as he glanced at the Nevermore, "that thing is circling back."

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying," said Weiss as she gestured towards the relics, "our objective is right in front of us."

"She's right," said Ruby, "our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live," said Jaune, "that's an idea I can get behind!"

Ruby and Jaune walked over to the pedestals and both picked out a chess piece. Once they had pocketed them, the teens looked over at the Deathstalker, which was starting to break free from the ice.

"Time we left," said Ren.

Just as he said this, an ape-like Beringel Grimm burst from the trees and let out a lout roar.

"Shit," swore Ex-Aid, "time to go."

The teens ran for the mountains with the Grim in hot pursuit, but the Nevermore flew ahead and perched on the pillars in front of them, blocking their way. Turning around, they saw the other two Grimm closing the distance between them, blocking off their path.

"Damnit," said Yang, "stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"Think you guys can handle the bird and the bug?" Ex-Aid asked Ruby.

"Sure," said Ruby, "but what about you?"

"I'll take care of monkey-boy over there and buy you some time," said Ex-Aid as he reached for the Actuation Lever on his Driver, pulling it across to activate his Level Up, "Get to the Mountains. _Second Shift!_ "

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

Ex-Aid's chibi form ran through a holographic screen causing his white armor to shoot off as he transformed into the more humanoid form that Ruby had first encountered.

"Now then," said Ex-Aid Level 2, "get going!"

The Kamen Rider charged and the Beringel Grimm, slamming his weapon into the beast's armored hide, sending it skidding back.

"Ok buddy," said Ex-Aid as he rushed past the Deathstalker while slapping the A Button on his Gashacon Breaker.

 **[Ja Kin!]**

A blade sprouted from the weapon and Ex-Aid proceeded to slash at the Grimm while dodging its attacks with his agility that his armor enhanced.

Meanwhile, the others were having a bit of trouble fighting the other Grimm. Nora was distracting the Deathstalker by firing off several grenades from her weapon while Blake and Ren slashed at its shell with their blades. Then, the Nevermore flew down and shattered the stone bridge with its wing, separating Jaune and Nora from Blake, Pyrrha and Ren while Ruby, Weiss and Yang fought off the Nevermore.

"Man, we gotta get over there!" said Jaune as he looked over the situation, "They need help!"

"Let's do this," said Nora with a smirk.

"But, uh…I can't make that jump," said Jaune.

Nora simply grinned and transformed her grenade launcher into a war hammer and smashed the edge of the platform, launching Jaune across, before blasting herself across to slam a strike into the Deathstalker. The Grimm blocked and knocked her back, sending her flying into Blake, knocking the quiet girl off the edge, but luckily, she used her Semblance to create a copy of herself that she vaulted off of to land on the Nevermore and deal several slashes before leaping off and landing by Yang, Ruby, and Weiss.

"It's tougher than it looks," said Blake.

"Then let's hit it with everything we've got," said Yang as she cocked her shotgun gauntlets.

The four girls then fired off blasts from their respective weapons, which splashed harmlessly across the Nevermore's feathers before it slammed into the area they were standing, forcing them to jump away.

While the others fought the two Grimm, Ex-Aid was having his own trouble fighting the Beringel Grimm that he was holding off. The creature's armored hide was proving to be too tough for his weapon's edge to pierce and it shrugged off all of his kicks and punches, before landing devastating blows that lowered the life gauge on his chest.

"So you wanna play tough?" growled Ex-Aid as he pulled the Gashat out of his belt and slotted it into the end of his weapon, "My turn."

 **[Gashat! Kimewaza! Mighty Critical Finish!]**

Ex-Aid leapt high into the air as energy gathered around the blade of his weapon and, as he descended, he brought the blade down HARD on the Grimm he was fighting, the energy allowing his weapon to cleave through the Beringel, killing it instantly.

 **[Kaishin no Ippatsu!]**

Ex-Aid let out a sigh of relief as he got to his feet and looked over to the others. It seemed, Jaune's group had managed to defeat the Deathstalker by severing it's stinger and impaling the beast through the head with it, and, to his surprise, Ruby had just had Weiss launch her at the Giant Nevermore, allowing her to hook the blade of her scythe around its neck. The Kamen Rider watched as Ruby, with the help of Weiss's glyphs, dragged the beast up the side of the cliff by the neck until the head was decapitated and the body fell to the ground.

"And that's the Game," said Ex-Aid as he removed his Gashat and put it away.

 **[Gashun!]**

xXsceneXx

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," said Ozpin as the students gathered on the stage of the ballroom in Beacon, "the four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The four male teens flexed their muscles as they walked offstage and Ozpin proceeded to call up the next team.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR," said Ozpin, "led by…Jaune Arc."

"L-led by?" said Jaune in surprise.

"Congratulations young man," said Ozpin as Pyrrha gave her partner a shoulder bump and accidentally knocked him to the ground.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long," called Ozpin as the four-colored girls walked onstage, "the four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

"Now," said Ozpin, "before we conclude these festivities, there is one final matter. Kazi Carter."

The teen Kamen Rider walked onto the stage, wondering what would happen since he had not found a partner.

"This year, there was an odd number of students admitted," said Ozpin, "so I took the liberty of hiding a special relic amongst the others. Kazi Carter, you retrieved the red queen piece, and so, you shall be joining Team RWBY as its fifth member, and the team shall henceforth be known as Team RWKBY (Rookie)."

"Well," said Ozpin, "It looks like things are shaping up to be an…interesting year."


	5. Stage 5: Settling in

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Ok, first of all: while I enjoy people supporting me and telling me how I can improve my fanfics, I don't like it when people degrade me due to my choices in plot directions. I put my OC on Team RWBY for several good reasons including the fact that it is important for the future of the plot and the fact that I don't like managing an entire team of OCs with different personalities.**

 **Anyways, I enjoy when people try to help with suggestions and advice, but if you're just going to complain, don't.**

 **Now, on with the show.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. Special thanks to merendinoemiliano for his suggestion in a review.**

Weiss Schnee was enjoying a peaceful slumber immersed in a dream where she was a world renowned Huntress with a name for herself that held more prestige than just being the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. She was just getting to the best part, when a loud whistle jolted her from sleep.

"Good morning, team RWKBY!" said Ruby happily as Weiss picked herself up off the floor.

"What in the world is wrong with you?" demanded Weiss angrily as she looked over the rest of the team as they stood there in the academy uniforms.

"Now that the team is awake, we can begin our first order of business," said Ruby, cheerily choosing to ignore her partner's ire.

"Decorating!" finished Yang energetically as she appeared at Ruby's side with Blake and Kazi next to her, the three of them holding various objects in their arms.

"We still need to unpack," said Blake calmly with a small smile.

"And I'd like to set up a workspace for my Gashat creation," said Kazi.

"So let's do this!" said Ruby, "Team RWKBY Banzai!"

"BANZAI!" cheered Yang and Kazi happily, while Blake cheered in a more sedate tone.

Once Weiss had changed and washed up, the group set to work decorating their new dorm room. Weiss carefully hung up a painting of Forever Fall on one wall, while Yang haphazardly put up a poster of the band The Achieve Men. On the side, Blake was placing her collection of books on a bookshelf by the window, taking great care to inconspicuously hide a book titled _Ninjas of Love_ on the shelf next to _Howling at the Moon_ and her other favorites.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though, as Ruby accidentally sliced their curtains in half when she turned around without remembering to sheathe Crescent Rose, and when they were done setting up their things, there was a _slight_ problem with their space planning.

"This could be a problem," said Kazi as he looked over the organized room with their beds piled in a corner.

"Maybe we could get rid of some things?" suggested Yang.

"Or," said Ruby as an idea came to her, "we could get rid of the beds…and replace them with bunk beds!"

"That doesn't sound very safe," said Weiss, but the others quickly overruled her and began to work, setting up one bed to hang from the ceiling via ropes and another to be stood upon some stacks of books on the posts of the one beneath it.

"Well," said Ruby, as they looked over the room, "mission complete."

The room looked quite nice, with the girls having added their own touch to make the room a little nicer, and, though the bunk beds were a bit rickety, things looked good to go. Kazi had even taken the bed that had been provided for him and used some spare sheets to curtain off a small section of the room to give the girls a bit of privacy and to designate a workspace for him to work on his Gashat creation and development projects.

"Well," said Kazi, "what should we do now?"

"The next order of business is to conquer our first day of classes," said Ruby with confidence.

"Wait," said Weiss as she scrambled for her watch, "CLASS BEGINS IN THREE MINUTES!"

This caused the entire team to jump and scramble to grab their supplies before rushing out to class, nearly running over Team JNPR as they exited their room as well.

xXsceneXx

The next few days passed without too much incidents. There was an argument between Ruby and Weiss, but they seemed to make amends that night and acted more friendly to each other because of it. Eventually, the Team decided to learn more about each other's combat styles so that they could plan and organize better coordinated combat techniques. That being said, they booked a time to use the training arena after class and eagerly met up.

"So," said Yang as the group assembled at the arena, "how are we gonna do this?"

"Well," said Blake, "a good way to know about our fighting styles is to fight against each other, so how about we take turns sparring?"

"Works for me," said Kazi as he placed his Driver on his waist.

"I've been wondering," said Weiss, "since you use that thing in combat so much, can you even fight without it?"

"I can," said Kazi, "but I tend to choose not to. My weapons come from my Driver, so I'd rather stick to using it."

"Well," said Ruby, "let's draw straws then to see who's going first."

The results ended up pairing Weiss and Blake to go against each other first, and the others were treated to an impressive display of Weiss taking full advantage of her Glyphs to launch a variety of attacks at the bookworm, with Blake using her Semblance and her athletic ability to dodge each attack while attacking from a distance with her weapon's gun mode. The fight was ended when Blake managed to catch Weiss off guard by tying her legs up with the ribbon part of Gambol Shroud.

"That was good," said Kazi as Weiss walked off stage, "I didn't know your Semblance was so versatile."

"The Schnee family has had the Glyph Semblance passed down for generations," said Weiss proudly, "we've had years to find out what can be done and refine that even further."

"It was a good match," said Blake with a small smile as the group drew lots again to see who would fight next.

"Well," said Yang, as she held up her marked lot, "I'm definitely gonna like this fight."

"I'd have to say the same from what I saw during the initiation," said Kazi as he held up his.

The two teens walked onto the stage and faced off, with Yang deploying her Ember Celica and Kazi holding out his Gashat, before pressing the button.

 **[Mighty Action X!]**

" _Henshin, Second Shift_ ," said Kazi as he flipped the Gashat for a better grip.

"I've been meaning to ask," said Yang, "why do you always say that when you transform?"

"Force of habit," said Kazi, "it sounds cool though."

Kazi quickly inserted the Gashat into his Driver and pulled the lever across the device, activating it.

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

A holographic screen appeared in front of the teen before sliding over him, materializing his Level 2 Action Gamer armor on his body.

"Let's do this," said Ex-Aid as he readied his fists.

"It's on!" said Yang before she rushed at the Kamen Rider, aiming a powerful punch at him.

Ex-Aid nimbly dodged the blond's attack and aimed a sweeping kick at her legs that knocked the blond brawler to the ground.

"First fall," said Ex-Aid cheekily as Yang got up.

"Like that's enough to keep me down," said Yang as she cocked her weapons and fired several rounds at Ex-Aid, forcing him to dodge.

"Good," said Ex-Aid as he summoned his weapon, "that means it'll be more fun."

 **[Gashacon Breaker!]**

"Interesting weapon," said Yang, "looks rather weird, but I saw how strong it was against that Beringel."

"Thanks," said Ex-Aid, "designed it myself."

Yang launched herself at the Kamen Rider and fired off several shotgun blast powered punches that Ex-Aid was unable to dodge and was knocked back, lowering the life gauge on his armor. Ex-Aid repaid this action by knocking Yang back with his hammer.

"Shall we continue?" asked Ex-Aid.

Yang smirked as the Kamen Rider readied his hammer and charged at him, cocking her fist back for a punch before swinging her fist forward, using the blast from her gauntlet to add power to the attack, just as Ex-Aid swung his hammer forward to intercept.

The resulting explosion from the collision of the two attacks sent the two fighters flying off the stage in opposite directions, dispelling Kazi's transformation and sending him skidding across the ground.

"Well," said Blake, "that was some fight."

"That. Was. AWESOME!" said Ruby.

"Can we cheer later?" asked Kazi, "I think I dislocated something."

"Oh! I'll get you to the infirmary," said Ruby as she helped her friend up, "why didn't you use your Aura?"

"Well," said Kazi before saying something softly.

The rest of the school was suddenly treated to the female members of team RYBWK shouting out in alarm in reaction to what Kazi had just informed them about his strange armor and powers.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T USE AURA WHEN YOU'RE TRANSFORMED!?"

xXsceneXx

"Man, these last few raids haven't been easy," sighed Roman Torchwick as he looked over the results of his last string of Dust Store robberies, "but I have to say, the haul was worth the trouble."

"Now, where to hit next, hmm?" he mused as he looked over a map of Beacon.

"You really seem to be enjoying yourself," said a voice and Roman turned to see a young man standing behind him wearing black jeans, black shoes, fingerless gloves, and a black hoodie with fake cat ears on the hood and colored pixel designs.

"Who are you and how did you get in?" asked Roman cautiously as he pointed his cane-gun at the newcomer.

The teen simply smirked and pulled out a purple and black device that resembled a game-pad with a sword end on one side and two red points on the other, and attached it to a grip he held in his hand.

 **[Chu Dōn!]**

Before Roman could react, the teen nimbly flipped over the criminal, firing two laser bolts from the red points, knocking roman's weapon out of his hands, before landing on his feet and pointing feline claws, that extended from his fingertips, at the crook's throat.

"Game Over," said the teen with a smirk.

"Ok," said Roman, "very smooth, but can you let me go?"

"I see you've met my new associate Roman," said a smooth voice as a woman in a red dress with gold flame designs walked up.

"Cinder," said Roman casually, as if he didn't have five sharp claws at his jugular, "mind telling me who this kid is?"

"As I said," said Cinder, "he's an associate that has offered us an edge to further our progression towards our final goal. You can let him go now."

The teen smiled and retracted his claws before moving to stand at Cinder's side, leaving Roman rubbing his neck where the claws had left red marks.

"Do I really have to work with a kid like him?" asked Roman, "I mean sure he can fight, but I'm not a babysitter."

"He is here to work with _me_ ," said Cinder, "he will be helping make sure you keep to the timetable of our grand scheme, by helping keep local Huntsmen and law enforcement off your back."

"So how exactly can a kid like him help?" asked Roman, "I mean that was a neat trick, but we're dealing with Huntsmen and soldiers, not to mention that Kamen Rider jerk."

"I'm glad you asked," said Cinder before prompting the teen to pull out a white Gashat and press the button on it.

 **[Dangerous Zombie!]**

 **And CUT! I hope you liked this chapter, as it was kind of just a bunch of info you'll need for later and a lead up to the next real plot point. I'm going to explain a bit more about Kazi and his powers next chapter, and the reason why I chose to not have him use Aura in Rider Form, is because the armor already protects him like Aura does, so having both would be OP.**

 **Let me know what you think.**


	6. Stage 6: Level 2: Forever Fall

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Note: Chapters 4 and 5 have been edited. I finally thought up a team name related to color. RWKBY (Rookie) relating to rookies being called Green or Greenhorns.**

"Explain," said Yang as she and other female members of Team RWKBY helped Kazi limp to the infirmary so that the nurse could look at the injuries from his fight with Yang, "how is it that you can't use Aura while you're a Kamen Rider?"

"It's kind of embarrassing," said Kazi with a wince, "you see, when I received the Gamer Driver, the system was actually incomplete. It was missing a suitable power source and Dust was too volatile to be used safely."

"Is that why the Driver negates your Aura?" asked Weiss, "Why don't you just find a power source then?"

"I did actually," said Kazi, "and that's the problem. You see I needed an easily replenished power source that would also allow for better synchronization with the suit, so I used my own Aura."

"WHAT?" the girls said in shock.

"Calm down," said Kazi, "it's not like I set the Driver to actively drain my Aura. It just diverts it into the suit instead of coating my body in it like a shield. Besides, the suit offers its own level of protection."

"But how would you make sure your Aura won't run out?" asked Ruby worriedly.

"Got that covered," said Kazi, "the suit comes with a Life-Gauge like you'd see in video games. It tracks how much Aura I have left to power the suit. When it is gone, the Driver deactivates and I just have to wait for my Aura to recharge naturally."

"Then what happened to your shoulder?" asked Weiss as she pointed to the dislocated limb with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on," protested Kazi, "how many people actually hit as hard as Yang does when she's angry?"

"Still," said Blake, "you really should get something to fight with when not transformed. You can't just go around fighting without Aura to protect you."

"That settles it," said Ruby with a determined smile, "I'm going to build you a weapon for you to use when you're not transformed. That way you won't have to worry."

"Really?" said Kazi in surprise, "Um, thanks."

"Well now," chuckled Yang, "Rubes is going to make you a weapon herself? I had to bribe her with a jar of homemade cookies to get her help with Ember Celica."

Ruby blushed slightly and puffed out her cheeks at her sister's teasing, "Oh look!" she said, changing the subject, "we're here!"

And indeed they were. Ruby and the others helped Kazi onto one of the cots and told one of the staff to call the Nurse.

"Thanks for helping me here," said Kazi, "it would have been hard to walk properly through the pain, much less use the elevator."

"Was no problem," said Yang, "sorry about your arm though."

"Well I wanted to see how I measured up," shrugged Kazi before wincing as the movement sent pain shooting through his arm, "guess that was a bad idea."

"I think that's an understatement," noted Weiss as she crossed her arms.

It was at that point that the Nurse, a black haired woman with a panther tail swinging behind her, named Ebony Cole, walked up with a clipboard.

"What seems to be the trouble?" asked the Nurse.

"Dislocated my arm training," said Kazi, "accidentally pushed too hard and got hit without Aura."

"I see," said the Nurse, "I'll need to get your shirt off to inspect the damage."

"Excuse me," interrupted Weiss, "but aren't you the school's Faunus doctor?"

"That's right I am," said the Nurse, "I'm in charge of treatment of all Faunus students and staff."

"Then why…" began Weiss before stopping as she heard Kazi chuckle.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag," Kazi muttered as he finished removing his shirt with a wince.

The girls then got their first look at Kazi's exposed torso and understood why he always wore long sleeves, for covering his back and arms, leaving only his chest, stomach and the underside of his arms exposed, were black armored scales that resembled plates layered over each other.

"You're a Faunus?" said Blake in surprise.

"A Pangolin Faunus to be exact," said Kazi, "it means I get this natural armor. I hope this doesn't change anything."

"Why would it?" asked Blake quizzically.

"Yeah," said Ruby, "you're our friend and teammate. Just because you're a Faunus doesn't change that."

Yang smiled and nodded, leaving Weiss the only one that didn't respond.

"You still there Wei-YAAAAAARH!" said Kazi, his sentence becoming a scream of pain as the nurse relocated the joint while he was distracted.

"All better," said the Nurse with a smile.

"A little warning next time please," muttered Kazi.

"If I had warned you, you'd have tensed up and it would have hurt even more," said the Nurse with a shrug, "I can recommend some painkillers, but your arm should be all better by tomorrow. Just in time for the trip to Forever Fall."

"At least that's one good thing," sighed Kazi as he pulled his shirt back on, "thanks ma'am."

"Yeah thanks," said Ruby, "now come on team, we still have the arena booked for another hour!"

Nurse Cole smiled as she watched the teens rush off. She enjoyed seeing the young ones working hard while still finding time to have fun. With a chuckle, she returned to her work, her tail swishing behind her.

xXsceneXx

"Alright," said Ruby as she tightened the lid on a jar of Red Sap that Teams RWKBY and JNPR had gathered from the trees in the Forever Fall forest, though Jaune was strangely absent, "even with Nora eating through half the jars, we've managed to gather enough Sap for the assignment."

"And we didn't even see any Rapier Wasps," said Kazi, "thank Monty."

"What is it with you and bees?" asked Nora, "Shouldn't a Huntsman not be scared of insects?"

"Well excuse my Apiphobia," Kazi retorted with a huff.

"Apiphobia?" repeated Nora in a confused tone.

"It's the acute fear of bees or anything similar," said Lie-Ren.

"How were you able to be a Huntsman with such a disability?" asked Pyrrha

"I learned to work around it," said Kazi, "it's not like I'll only fight bee-type Grimm."

"Anyways," said Blake, "we should get this Sap back to the Bullhead so we can get back to school."

"Eager to get back to your books?" teased Yang, "I've seen you sneaking peeks at your bookshelf when you think nobody's looking. You must really be into reading."

Blake blushed slightly, considering _which_ book she had wanted to read…and the mature content it contained as well.

Suddenly, a roar split the clearing, causing the bow on Blake's head to twitch as the rest of the team looked around.

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Ruby.

"URSA! URSA!" yelled Russel Thrush as he and the rest of team CRDL, minus Cardin, came running into the clearing, Russel slamming into Yang due to him not looking where he was going.

"What?!" said Yang in surprise, "Where?"

"It's back there," exclaimed Russel, "It's got Cardin!"

Pyrrha, who had been in the process of sealing a jar of sap, dropped the jar in her hands, her eyes widening in shock as the glass shattered.

"Jaune!" she exclaimed before rushing off in the direction Team CRDL had come from.

"Alright," said Ruby, as she got serious, slipping into her Leader Mode, "Yang, Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch."

"Ren, Nora, go with them," said Pyrrha as she took charge of her team in the absence of their leader, "there could be more Grimm out there."

The two members of Team JNPR nodded as they headed off with Yang and Blake, the four of them holding their weapons at the ready. Once their teammates were off, Ruby, Weiss, Kazi, and Pyrrha headed in the direction Team CRDL had come from, hoping to help Jaune fight off the Grimm.

They were about halfway there, when a laser burst shot out and exploded against the ground in front of the three students, halting them in their tracks.

"Sorry," chuckled a voice as the teen that had been with Cinder's faction leapt out of the trees, "but I have business with you first. Besides, I think seeing the blond level up a bit will do him good."

"Is this your doing?" growled Pyrrha, "Did you arrange this?"

"Of course not," laughed the teen, "but it is amusing, and I always love an amusing game."

"Is that all this is for you?" asked Weiss angrily, "A Game?"

"Well," said the teen as he pulled out a purple device that resembled a two-button game-pad.

 **[Chu Dōn!]**

"I'd say, all the world's a game," said the teen as he placed the device on his wrist and fired off several shots.

Kazi quickly moved between his teammates and the shots, using the natural armor on his back to block the attack, while Pyrrha did the same with her shield, Akoúo̱.

"Crap," said Kazi as he flexed his muscles and placed his Driver on his waist, "Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, go help Jaune. I'll hold this guy back."

"But…" Ruby tried to protest, but Kazi shook his head.

"You need to help Jaune," said Kazi as he pulled out his Gashat, "I'll explain later."

 **[Mighty Action X!]**

" _Henshin, Second Shift!_ " yelled Kazi as he placed the Gashat in his Driver pulled the lever.

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

"Go!" yelled Ex-Aid, causing the girls to continue on their way.

"Hmm, that's no fun," said the teen before pounding his fist into his palm, "I've got it! Let's add a mini boss!"

The teen then pulled out a white Gashat, causing Ex-Aid to step back in shock, "That's…"

"Do you think you were the only one able to make these?" laughed the teen as he pressed the button on the Gashat.

 **[Dangerous Zombie!]**

"Now," said the teen as he slotted the Gashat into the purple device, "let me show you a real game."

Waving his hand, a spherical distortion appeared in the air that deposited a Beowolf Grimm next to the teen. The Grimm looked around, but before it could act, the teen stabbed the laser barrels into the side of the beast and pulled the trigger.

 **[Infection! Let's Game! Bad Game! Dead Game! What's your name?! The Bugster!]**

A wave of pixels flowed from the device in the teen's hand into the Grimm, causing it to roar out in anger and pain as its body distorted and the bone armor on its body shifted and reformed. Limbs and bones rearranged themselves with sickening cracks, until the beast now resembled a hulking deformed humanoid wearing cracked white armor that resembled Ex-Aid's armor over its black skin.

"I present, the Beowolf Bugster," said the teen.

"Shit," said Kazi as he got into a ready stance.


	7. Stage 7: Second Boss: The Bugster

**It's How You Play the Game**

The newly dubbed Beowolf Bugster let out a roar before charging at Ex-Aid with stiff and jerky movements. The creature moved with surprising speed despite it's zombie-like gait and landed a powerful strike across the Kamen Rider's breastplate with its clawed gauntlet.

"Gah!" exclaimed Ex-Aid as he was sent flying back. Glancing down at his life gauge, he saw that three bars had been depleted from the attack.

"This thing hits hard," said the Kamen Rider as he hit a button on his Gashacon Breaker, extending its blade.

 **[Ja Kīn!]**

Ex-Aid dodged to the side as the modified Grimm attacked him again and swung his bladed weapon out, striking the armor covering the beast's flank, but not leaving much noticeable damage. Dodging a retaliatory strike, the Kamen Rider continued to strike at the Grimm's new form with his weapon, making sure to avoid the beast's flailing limbs that were trying to nail him, knowing that enough of those strikes would spell a Game Over for him.

Once he got a good feel for the Bugster's technique, Ex-Aid slapped the B-Button on his weapon and prepared to deliver a powerful slash to the beast's armor, but just as he did so, the Bugster snapped out a leg and sent him flying several feet with a powerful kick.

"Did I forget to mention that it learns as it fights?" chuckled the mysterious teen.

"Screw you!" cursed the Kamen Rider as he got to his feet, "I didn't want to use this without testing it first, but looks like you're forcing my hand."

"Oh?" scoffed the teen, "and what is this amazing something that is supposed to beat my creation?"

"This," said Ex-Aid as he kicked the Bugster to create space and pulled out a red Gashat.

"Oh, a new game?" asked the teen, "I don't see how a new Gashat is going to help."

"It's not just a new Gashat," said Ex-Aid as he pressed the button on the Gashat, "it's a new level."

 **[Gekitotsu Robots!]**

Ex-Aid pushed the lever on his Driver back to its standby mode and slotted the new Gashat into his Driver, causing a red chibi-robot to appear and fly around, slamming into the Bugster and forcing the teen to dodge. The Rider then pulled the lever across his belt, triggering his transformation.

" _Henshin,_ " said the Rider, " _Third Shift._ "

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

The flying robot flew towards Ex-Aid, opened its mouth, and chomped down on the Rider's upper body, causing the teen to look at the rider in surprise.

"What the...?" said the teen in shock.

 **[A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!]**

The robot then transformed into red armor that fixed itself to the Kamen Rider, granting him an armored breastplate, visor, and a large mechanical left fist.

"Now," said Ex-Aid, "let's try that again."

The Beowolf Bugster roared and charged again at the Kamen Rider, but this time, the Rider caught the beast's claw in his right hand and slammed a powerful punch into its gut with his armored left hand, sending the Bugster flying into a tree trunk.

"You were able to create a Level 3 Gashat?" said the teen, "I'm impressed. But that won't make things any easier."

"We'll see about that," said Ex-Aid as the Bugster rose up and charged again.

The beast attacked with a furious barrage of strikes, but the Kamen Rider easily parried the blows before delivering a powerful strike of his own with the armored gauntlet on his left hand. But suddenly, as he was preparing to strike again, energy arced out from the Gamer Driver that coursed through the Kamen Rider's body, causing him to stagger in pain.

"Damnit," he growled, "looks like there's still work to be done. Better finish it now."

Ex-Aid pulled the new Gashat out of the slot in his belt and placed it into a slot on his hip.

 **[Kimewaza! Gekitotsu Critical Strike!]**

"Kora!" yelled Ex-Aid as he punched the Bugster-Grimm again, but this time with his robot fist rocketing off, driving the mutated Beowolf through several tree trunks before the Kamen Rider leapt forward and punched his hand back into the fist, causing a crater to form under the beast.

 **[PERFECT!]**

Kazi removed the Gashats, dispelling his armor as the Bugster began to dissolve away like all Grimm, but suddenly the particles of ash were sucked into the device the other teen had used to create the Bugster. Once they were all absorbed, the teen removed the Dangerous Zombie Gashat from the device and smirked.

"Wh-who are you?" grunted Kazi as he felt pain shoot through him from the untested Gashat's side-effect.

"I'm just a gamer that wants to play the game of a lifetime," said the teen, "call me, Kaito Noire."

With that the now named Kaito threw down a smoke bomb and vanished, just as the others arrived with Glynda.

xXsceneXx

"I would like an explanation, Mr. Carter," said Ozpin as he faced Team RWKBY, "I was observing the field trip from the security feeds and I would like to know why that person had a device similar to the ones you use to transform."

"It's a bit of a long story," sighed Kazi.

"I believe we have the time," said Ozpin, "I will not allow a potential threat to my students to remain unknown."

"Fine," said Kazi, "then let's start at the beginning. It all started when I came home one day and found a sealed package on my bed along with a message from my father."

"A message?" said Ozpin curiously?

The teen nodded and reached into his pocket and pulled out a black Gashat with a symbol on it that resembled Ex-Aid's helmet. Pointing it away from the others, he pressed the button on it, causing a hologram of an older man wearing a nice suit and a lab coat to appear.

" _Hello son,_ " said the hologram, " _I don't have much time, so I'll be brief. There are some problems here at Hyperion. There was a data leak and several terabytes of game data was copied from the master servers. From what we were able to find, it was data from our Augmented Reality system that we planned to release. A few days later, there was an attack on the lab, by people that seemed to have weaponized the game data and the AR system. I've sent you an experimental yet incomplete version of the AR to defend yourself, but be careful, they…_ "

The rest of the message was cut off by an explosion from the hologram that caused Aloquin Carter to duck and cover before the message abruptly ended.

"So that guy," said Ruby, "he's one of the ones that your dad told you about?"

"He had to be," said Kazi, "he used a Gashat like the ones I've developed for my powers, and they're all based on Games. In fact, I recognize the game used: Dangerous Zombie. It's the game Dad was developing to be released with the new AR system."

"I see," said Ozpin, "I will have to inform the other Headmasters to be prepared. You five may return to your dorms."

With that, Team RWKBY headed back to their dorm.

xXsceneXx

"So," said Yang as she flopped on her bunk, "you got a new power-up?"

"Yeah," said Kazi as he placed the new Gashat in a slot on his workstation, "but it's still incomplete."

"What do you mean?" asked Blake.

"Well," said Kazi, "the current power output can't be handled by the current settings on my Driver, leading to it to overload and give me a painful shock."

"Is there anything you can do about that?" asked Weiss, "I mean a power up is nice, but if it's a hinderance in battle, then it's kind of useless, right?"

"I'll just need to finish calibrating the Gashat," said Kazi as he sat down at his workstation and powered up his computer, "then it will work properly."

"Well if that's that, then I'm gonna take a shower," said Yang, "that was some day."

Ruby glanced at Kazi as the teen pulled the curtain around his area of the room, the glow of his computer from behind the sheet and the clicking of the keys indicating he was getting to work. Nodding to herself, the weapons nut pulled out a sketchpad and began to draw up blueprints for a potential weapon to build for her teammate.

 **So yes, Bugster Grimm will be a thing here. I also plan to use the Dangerous Zombie Gashat like Genm did in the show (albeit without the immortality) but that won't be Kaito's final form. No more spoilers for now. Tune in next time.**


	8. Stage 8: Level Grinding

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"I must say," said Cinder, "that was quite an interesting display."

Turning toward Kaito, she saw he was playing a game on a handheld device, but she could tell he had heard her.

"Without our Queen's help, the game wouldn't have begun," said Kaito without looking up, "this was but the first move on the board."

"Meh," said Roman, "That kid still beat your Bug-Grimm or whatever you called it."

"Bugster," corrected Kaito, "and the purpose wasn't to win, at least, not yet."

"Not win?" scoffed Roman, "Cinder, are you sure this kid is right in the head? Winning is kind of the point here."

"A war is not won by a single battle," said Kaito with a smile, "and a game is best when there are multiple bosses to face. I was simply gathering data for the ultimate game."

"And what is this 'Ultimate Game' you speak of?" asked Roman sarcastically.

"That is unimportant for now," said Cinder, "right now we need to continue our preparations for our main objective."

"And that is what I've been doing," sighed Roman, "the White Fang has been most helpful in procuring the Dust shipments, despite being Faunus of course."

Suddenly, Roman found the bladed end of Kaito's weapon at his throat, "Don't underestimate us because we're Faunus."

"Right right," said Roman, "I forgot that you're one of them. Now could you put that down? I'm partial to keeping my head attached."

When the feline Faunus didn't move his blade from the man's throat, the bowler hat wearing crook frowned and glanced at Cinder, who was standing there with a slightly amused look.

"Oi!" said Roman, "You gonna call off your dog here, Cinder?"

"I'm a cat, actually," said Kaito.

"Whatever!" yelled Roman, "Well, Cinder?"

"I'm considering it," said Cinder simply.

"Wait, what?!" said Roman in surprise, "You NEED me! I'm the one getting all the Dust for your grand scheme, not to mention that I've been keeping the White Fang on board with our plans."

"Well," said Cinder with a smirk, "I'm sure Kaito here could work with the White Fang, and Neo could handle the Dust gathering in your place, not to mention she lacks your disrespectful tongue…"

"Alright alright," sighed Roman, "I'll keep in line, just call him off. I'm rather attached to having my head on my shoulders."

"Let him go," said Cinder to the feline Faunus, "we do still need him."

Kaito nodded and lowered his weapon before picking up his game and sitting down again. Roman dusted off his coat and straightened his lapels before turning to the red-clad woman.

"So," he said, addressing Cinder, "What's our next move?"

"You will be continuing to collect Dust and supplies for our forces," said Cinder, "Kaito will be shadowing you to ensure that there are no interferences."

"As long as I don't have to babysit him," said Roman before holding his hands up in surrender as said Faunus pointed his weapon at the crook, "right right, I'm sorry."

"Very good," said Cinder, "I'll need to report to my Mistress. Our plans are going quite well."

"Yes," said Kaito as he glanced at the screen on his weapon and looked at the lines of code that were streaming across it, "they are."

With a laugh, the Faunus teen tossed his game pad into the air and let it vanish into a distortion that appeared in the air.

xXsceneXx

Back at the Team RWKBY, Yang, Blake, and Weiss were watching as their leader and the Kamen Rider were hard at work at their respective workstations.

Ruby was busy drawing up blueprints and ideas in a notebook as she tried to design a weapon that would fit her teammate and his fighting style. There was already a wastebasket filled with rejected ideas, but she wouldn't give up when her teammate needed something to give him an edge. Besides, weapon design was her passion, so why stop now?

As for Kazi, he was furiously typing away at the computer he had set up in his corner of the room, causing data to stream across the screen as the Faunus made modifications to his newest Gashat. He had been hard at work for the past hour, mapping code and inputting data from the previous battle that had been collected by his Driver when he fought the Bugster.

"They've been at it for a while now," said Blake as the rest of the team watched them work.

"Can you blame them?" asked Weiss, "I mean, Kazi doesn't have a weapon outside of his Kamen Rider form, and that's just asking for trouble as a Huntsman."

"I've honestly not seen her this focused on something since she was designing Crescent Rose," said Yang.

"I wonder if that means something significant," mused Blake.

"Damnit!" yelled Kazi suddenly, causing the rest of the team to rush over, "This just won't work!"

"What's wrong?" asked Yang.

"I can't get this power distribution curve to work right," said Kazi, "when I try to reduce the excess energy flow, the Gashat lacks the significant energy to power the Level Three unit. But if the flow is left as is, a discharge is built up to dangerous levels that can cause permanent damage to me and the Driver."

"That is a bit of a problem," said Blake.

"I've been trying to find a workaround, but I can't seem to find a way to safely discharge that much stored energy," said Kazi with a sigh.

"Why do you have to discharge it?" asked Ruby.

"What are you talking about?" asked Weiss, "Didn't you hear what he said?"

"Well yeah," said the scythe wielder, "but can't you put the energy to use? I mean when I built Crescent Rose, I needed to find a way to handle the recoil from the High Caliber Dust Rounds, so I designed it to be able to disperse the bulk of the recoil through the frame, leaving enough that I can either use or counter."

"You dispersed the power across the entire device?" asked Blake.

"Yeah," said Ruby, "Yang's gloves have a feature like that too to deal with excess heat from the firing mechanism."

"Disperse the flow across the unit," mused Kazi, "that…just might work."

The teenage Faunus quickly began typing into his laptop, bringing up a schematic of the Ex-Aid armor. Hitting a few keys, he added on the Gekitotsu Robots armor and watched as energy flowed out from it and was dispersed throughout the suit.

"This is brilliant," said Kazi, "instead of fighting against the energy buildup, I can channel it across the suit to boost performance and stability. Why didn't I think of this?"

"That's my little sis for ya," smiled Yang as she pulled Ruby into a headlock.

"If this works," said Kazi as he plugged his driver into the computer, "then this would solve my problem with creating Level Three Gashats."

"So, you won't get zapped anymore?" asked Blake.

"Only one way to find out," said Kazi as the software finished downloading from his computer into his Driver. Once the download was finished, Kazi grabbed his Driver and jumped to his feet, "so, who's up for heading to the arena to test this out?"

"Sure thing," said Yang, "if you think you're up to it?"

"Don't underestimate my Leveled-Up power," said Kazi with a smirk, "I'll show you in the arena."

"Well let's see then," said Yang as the rest of Team RWKBY grabbed their things and headed to the training arenas available to students.

xXsceneXx

"So how do you want to do this?" asked Blake as the team gathered in their battle gear.

"How about we finish where we left off?" asked Yang with a smirk as she hopped onto the platform and walked to the center of the arena, "I wouldn't mind testing my fists against your new form. I'll make sure to hold back so I don't send you to the nurse's office this time."

"Oh, there's no need for that," said Kazi as he placed his Driver on his waist and pulled out his two Gashats, "I think I've fixed that particular issue. Hit me as hard as you want."

"You sure about this?" asked Blake with a raised eyebrow.

"Perfectly," said Kazi as he pressed the buttons on both Gashats.

 **[Mighty Action X/Gekitotsu Robots!]**

"Good luck, both of you!" said Ruby as she waved pennants with both their emblems.

"Well then," said Yang, "let's do this."

"Right," said Kazi as he slotted in his Gashats and pulled the lever on his Driver, " _Henshin: Third Shift._ "

 **[Gashat!** **Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!** **A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!]**

Yang smiled as Ex-Aid's suit formed before the Gekitotsu Robot unit formed into armor on his person. The Kamen Rider raised his mechanical gauntlet and got into a fighting stance while his blond opponent did the same, while an automated clock counted down. When the timer hit zero, the blond brawler leapt forward, cocking her fist back to deliver a powerful punch to Ex-Aid's armored chest plate, but when the punch connected, it only made the Kamen Rider step back twice from the explosive force from Ember Celica's shotgun shells.

"Nice armor," said Yang as she shook her fist to alleviate the stinging.

"Nice punch," Ex-Aid returned, "want to see mine?"

"I'm game," said Yang as she cocked her fist back and channeled her Aura to give an extra boost.

The blond brawler rushed forward again and punched out with her armored gauntlet just as Ex-Aid swung his mechanical fist forward to meet the blow. There was a muffled bang and Yang was sent skidding back from the force of the impact while Ex-Aid remained in his place.

"That new level is no joke," smiled Yang as she got to her feet and cracked her joints.

"Think you've had enough?" asked Ex-Aid as pistons in his mechanical fist gave a slight whirr.

"Hardly," smirked Yang, "I haven't even begun to go all out yet."

"Holding back?" chuckled the Kamen Rider, "I thought you wanted to give me a run for my Lien?"

"I'm gonna do just that," smirked Yang as she slammed her fists together, releasing an explosive blast of Aura that made her hair seem to dance with flames while her lilac eyes turned bright red.

"Oh boy," groaned Ruby from the sidelines, "she's done it now."

"Done what?" asked Weiss, "what's going on?"

"She's using her Semblance," sighed Ruby, "this could get ugly."

"Why?" asked Blake warily, "What does her Semblance do?"

"Yang's Semblance allows her to take all the damage done to her and turn it into strength," said Ruby, "so as long as she can still fight, she can get stronger and stronger."

"That doesn't seem so bad," said Blake.

"The catch," added Ruby, "is that she gets really angry."

"YAAAAAAH!" yelled Yang as she shot forward faster than before, aiming another punch at Ex-Aid.

The Kamen Rider didn't expect much, as her previous attacks were barely able to make him stagger back, so he simply stood there and lowered his center of gravity to intercept it. That proved to be a mistake, as the punch, now enhanced by the blond's Semblance, struck him with enough power to send him skidding back several feet. The only thing keeping him from winding up on his back was the fact that he had braced himself first, but the brawler didn't let up. Yang continued to deliver powerful punches to Ex-Aid's armor, and from the readout of his Life Gauge that displayed on the inside of his helmet, he could see that her attacks were actually breaking through the Level 3 defenses and causing him damage.

"KORA!" yelled Ex-Aid as he swung his robotic fist out to knock Yang back, but he was surprised when the blond caught the punch with her new strength.

Reacting quickly, Ex-Aid brought his fist back, pulling Yang, who had been gripping the metal knuckle, into his other fist, forcing her to loosen his grip enough to pull free and kick her in the midsection.

Both fighters were about to continue when…

"TIME!" yelled Ruby as the buzzer sounded.

"What?!" both combatants cried out in surprise.

"This was only meant to be a test," said Ruby, "and we've already proven that the new Gashat works well with the adjustments."

"Besides," said Blake simply as she pointed to the Aura Gauges on the overhead screen, "you're running low on Aura Yang."

And indeed, the blond's Aura levels were in the yellow, approaching red, from the fight. Kazi breathed out and removed the Gashat's from his belt, causing his armor to vanish, before reaching out a hand to his teammate.

"Good match Yang," he said.

"Heh," chuckled the brawler, "I'll get you next time."

"Well," said Weiss, "now that that's done, maybe we should get washed up and head back to the dorm? We have that test in Oboler's class tomorrow."

The team nodded and walked off, not noticing that a crow was sitting in the rafters watching them. The avian then spread its wings and flew off, leaving a single black feather behind in the empty room.


	9. Stage 9: Equipping Gear

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Thank you to all of you that have waited patiently for this chapter. I've been a bit busy and have been having some trouble putting together original content to act as lead in stuff to link the episodes that have huge gaps between them. My goal is for this story to be quite long, so I need to work on that.**

 **In any case, I am open to suggestions.**

 **Shall we begin?**

 **Disclaimer: Toei owns Kamen Rider and Monty Oum created RWBY**

In his office at the top of Beacon Tower, Ozpin looked out the window of his office as the gears in the mechanism above him continued to turn. The elderly Headmaster took in the view of the Kingdom of Vale and reflected on the hardships it had had to endure to grow to the level it has become now, while remembering a time when Kingdoms grew through blood and conquest, and a beautiful princess, who became tainted and distorted by hate and darkness.

"I hear you've got an interesting bunch of kids this year Oz," said a gravely voice from behind the headmaster.

"I'm glad to see you could make it Qrow," said Ozpin as he turned to face the owner of the voice, a scraggly man wearing a grey dress shirt, black pants, and a tattered red cloak.

"Well I got your message about what's been going on," said the now named Qrow as he took a pull from a hip flask, "gotta say, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed people were weaponizing video games."

"I see you've encountered Mr. Carter," said Ozpin as he sipped from his mug, "or at least the enemies he has."

"Yeah I saw the kid," said Qrow, "gotta say, when you called, I expected it to be about my niece."

"Well," said Ozpin, "while Miss Rose is special, I called you because of a new threat."

As Ozpin said this, Gynda Goodwitch walked in as well, closing the door behind her, "Honestly Qrow," she said as she spotted the scraggly man, "must you do that here? This _is_ a school!"

Said man, who had been taking another pull from his flask, quickly stowed the container away.

"The headmasters of Shade and Haven send their apologies for missing this meeting," reported Glenda, "they apparently had some things to deal with regarding their schools that are keeping them occupied."

"And what about Atlas?" inquired Ozpin.

"I'm right here Ozpin," said a male voice as a hologram of a man wearing a white military general outfit appeared, "now what is so important that you called this meeting?"

"I'm glad you could make it James," said Ozpin, "and I assure you, that this is indeed worth your time."

"I hope so," said James Ironwood, the headmaster of Atlas Academy and the leader of the Atlesian Military before turning to Glenda with a smile, "Glynda, always a pleasure."

"James," she responded curtly.

"Well," said Ozpin as he tapped his cane on the ground, causing the gears above them to let off a boom as they locked into place, "on to business then."

Tapping his cane twice, the doors locked and shades were drawn across the window of the office, allowing the lighting to dim. Walking over to his desk, Ozpin pushed a button and an image was projected from overhead of the fight in Forever Fall.

"Ozpin," said Ironwood as he watched the image of Kaito Noire attack the students, "while I have the upmost respect for your school and your judgement, but isn't an incident like this better left to local law enforcement."

"Just watch," said Ozpin in response as the image showed Kaito pulling out a Gashat.

 **[Dangerous Zombie!]**

"What?" exclaimed Ironwood as he saw Kaito use his device to transform the Grimm into what he called a Bugster, "What is that thing?"

"This is what I called this meeting for," said Ozpin as he paused the recording and zoomed in on the image of the Beowolf Bugster, "it appears we have a new threat to deal with."

"How was that child able to alter the Grimm like that?" demanded Ironwood, "When did this happen? If I find that you've been holding this information back Ozpin…"

"Video games," cut in Qrow, causing Ironwood to turn to him.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Ironwood crossly.

"Apparently someone had the bright idea to weaponize video games," said Qrow as he lifted his flask to take a drink, only to be stopped by a glare from Glenda as she tapped her riding crop into her free hand.

"Now is not the time for jokes Qrow," said Ozpin, but the General was stopped when he saw Ozpin shake his head.

"I'm afraid he is being quite serious," said Ozpin, "from what we've seen and confirmed by a student who has intimate knowledge of the incident, apparently a rouge group attacked the Gaming Corporation Hyperion and made off with data and schematics regarding their new Augmented Reality Gaming System, which they then weaponized and used as you just saw."

"Yes," said Ironwood, "I remember hearing about that. It was their Atlas Headquarters, wasn't it?"

"Indeed," said Ozpin, "and somebody is using the data on the unfinished games to augment and mutate the Creatures of Grimm."

"I see," said Ironwood, "that is concerning, but I assume that you didn't tell me all this to ask me to send Atlesian Military forces to vale."

"No," said Ozpin, "we won't be needing that quite yet, but be on the alert. I doubt that this individual is the only one with access to the data."

"Alright," sighed Ironwood, "we'll speak more when I arrive for the Vytal Festival. I'm looking forward to it."

With that, the holograms vanished and the room returned to its normal lighting, allowing Ozpin to address the two remaining members of his inner circle.

"We will need to keep our eyes open," said Ozpin, "it won't be long until _she_ learns of this, that is, if she hasn't learned of it already."

"I'll keep an eye on them," said Qrow, "I wanted to stick around and visit the kids for Vytal anyways."

"We will as well," said Glynda, "with the tournament coming, we'll want thing to run smoothly."

xXsceneXx

"So, what's got you so excited Ice Queen?" asked Yang as the members of Team RWKBY rested in their Dorm.

"I'm surprised you don't know," said Weiss, "the Vytal Festival is coming up."

"You're going to have to fill me in," said Kazi as he looked up from his laptop, "I don't think I know of that event."

"How could you not?" exclaimed Weiss, "The Festival is one of the most important events for any Huntsman or Huntress! It's the tournament where we can show what we can do in front of a large crowd."

"You recall that I spent my childhood wanting to become a programmer for Hyperion," said Kazi, "I spent most of my time working on the development of some of our new games. I never had the chance to see the tournament."

"It's pretty impressive," commented Blake, "people from every Academy come to the Kingdom hosting the event in order to participate. It can be seen as a celebration of peace after years of war between the Kingdoms."

"So, you can see why I'm excited," said Weiss, "this is the perfect time for us to show what we can do as a team."

"You're right," said Yang, "that is pretty exciting."

"DONE!" exclaimed Ruby happily as she looked up from a workbench she had been using to build the weapon she promised for Kazi.

"You finished it?" asked Kazi eagerly as he jumped up.

"Yup!" said Ruby as she held up her creation.

In her hands was a crimson colored weapon that resembled a Dust Revolver with a longer than usual handle. Kazi picked it up and held it in his hands, feeling the weight of it in his hands, before aiming it at the wall.

"This is pretty cool," said Kazi, "it has a good balance in my hands and the weight is nice too."

"Right?" said Ruby, "It has a seven shot chamber that can load Standard Dust Rounds of different attributes, but that's not the coolest part!"

Kazi inspected the weapon and found he could move the handle to be aligned with the muzzle, and when he did so, a blade popped out, transforming the gun into a Glaive.

"Impressive," said Kazi as he gave the blade a few test swings, "so what's it called?"

"Well," said Ruby, "I didn't really get a chance to think of a name yet."

Looking at the impressive weapon in his hand and his teammate who made it for him, Kazi smiled and blushed slightly as a name came to mind, "How about Crimson Rose?"

This caused Blake and Yang to glance his way and raise an eyebrow, Blake with a curious look and Yang with a more measuring one.

"Why that name?" asked Ruby.

"Well you made it for me," said Kazi in a slightly bashful voice, "and since it's colored accordingly, why not name it after its creator?"

"If you really want to then sure," said Ruby.

Yang glanced at Blake, getting a shrug from the black-haired girl, before narrowing her eyes at Kazi as he sheathed the weapon. Her big sister senses were going off and she might have to keep an eye on the only male member of their team.

 **Sorry this is a lot of filler and exposition. I plan to have a bit more plot to lead into the next season, but things will be slow as I don't want to just use each chapter for an episode. Each episode is pretty well spaced apart and the seasons don't have very many anyways, so that wouldn't work for a good fic.**


	10. Stage 10: Third Boss: Harpy

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Disclaimer: Monty Oum created RWBY and Toei owns Kamen Rider.**

Kazi narrowed his eyes as he faced his opponent, feeling the weight of the weapon in his hand as he tensed his nerves for battle. Moving quickly, he dove into a roll to the side, dodging an explosive burst that flew past his ear and fired off three shots from Crimson Draco, before rolling to hid feet and throwing a kick out that caught his opponent in the midsection. Kazi then had to dodge several explosive shots launched his way and used before flipping over another and firing two more shots from his weapon, emptying the revolver barrel.

Ducking under a swing from his opponent's weapon, Kazi switched Crimson Draco to Glaive mode and slashed at his enemy, but his attack was blocked by a swing from his opponent's weapon that sent him sprawling back. Rolling to the side, he dodged several explosive shots that were sent this way and managed to reload the chambers of his Dust Revolver, firing off several shots at his opponent's face that blinded his enemy long enough for the pangolin Faunus to get in close and slash at his opponent with the blade form of his weapon, causing said opponent to stagger backwards, before the Faunus increased the distance between them by firing the rest of his bullets into his enemy's chest.

Kazi then pulled out a new set of bullets, but his opponent sent a blast at him that knocked them out of his hands. Kazi flipped over the next shot sent his way and landed into a roll that took him under his opponent's swing, allowing him to extend his hand toward the bullets as a purple glow surrounded his hand pulling the clip into his waiting palm. With a quick movement, Kazi loaded the shots into his weapon and spun around emptying the chambers at point blank, causing a buzzer to sound, ending the match.

"Very good," said Glynda Goodwitch as Kazi and his opponent, Cardin Winchester, stepped away from each other, both sparing a moment to shoot a glare at the other, "as Mister Winchester's Aura has dropped into the red zone, this would indicate a victory for his opponent according to the rules of the Vytal Festival. Remember that these matches are designed to help you practice and prepare for the tournament itself, so train hard and be prepared to represent Beacon Academy."

As the students filed out of the arena, the rest of Team RWKBY hung back to talk to their teammate about the match.

"That was a pretty good fight," said Yang, "you really kicked his ass."

"Thanks," said Kazi as he sheathed his weapon, "and special thanks to you Ruby. The weapon worked like a charm."

"By the way," said Blake, "what was that back there? Back when you suddenly called the ammo clip back into your hand. Was that your Semblance?"

"Yeah," said Kazi as he scratched the back of his head, "my semblance allows me to pull small objects into my hands, but I'm limited to what I can physically lift with that arm."

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Ruby, "So you could just reach out and pull things into your hand?"

"I believe that's what he just said," said Weiss dryly.

"Aw yeah," said Yang as the group headed out, not having any other classes that day, "we are going to DOMINATE the Vytal Tournament!"

"Yeah, about that," sighed Kazi, "there's something I need to tell you guys. I'm not going to be participating in the tournament."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, with Blake asking the same question, but in a more subdued tone.

"What do you mean you're not going to participate?" asked Weiss, "Don't you realize how far our Team could get in the tournament?"

"I know," said Kazi, "but Ozpin and I came to an agreement. Since Team RWKBY is the only Team that has more than four members, we were initially going to be excluded from the competition due to the unfair advantage we would have over the other students, but Ozpin came to me after class one day and asked to have a word. He said that he didn't want to exclude our Team from the Vytal Festival, but because of the odd number in our group, we held an unfair advantage, and because my main method of fighting is in my Kamen Rider form, I decided to step aside so you all could participate."

"Well, that is very noble of you," said Weiss.

"It's still too bad," said Yang, "we would have been awesome!"

"How would they deal with him not having Aura in his Rider form though?" asked Blake.

"And," added Kazi, "while I won't be competing, I _have_ been working on something special for you four."

"Ooh, what is it?" exclaimed Ruby.

"It's a secret," Kazi, "but I swear on my Rider Gashat that you'll love it."

"I was thinking actually," said Blake, "you're called a Kamen _Rider_ , but what do you ride exactly?"

This caused Kazi to blush slightly, "Well, nothing normally, but I do have a Gashat that I perfected a while back. While it doesn't give me a power up, it does allow me access to a nice bike in Rider mode."

"Sweet," said Yang, "can I see it? I have a bike myself. I call her Bumblebee."

"Maybe later," chuckled Kazi, "now, there was a new food truck that opened up in Vale that served some dishes from Mistral, and I've been dying to try some. Anyone game?"

"Sure," said Yang, "you Gashat yourself a deal."

Once everyone had finished groaning at the terrible pun, the group headed out to Vale to get a bite to eat.

xXsceneXx

"It's so boring out here," muttered Kaito as he walked through the streets of Vale with the hood of his hoodie pulled over his head to block the sun. The Faunus teen had had to head into the city due to him beating the final level of the game he had been playing, forcing him to have to look for a shop that sold the sequel, "the real world is so dull without something to spice it up."

The teen continued to walk in a dull mood. His mood was improved when he found the shop he had been searching for and saw that they had not only the sequel, but the DLC expansion edition as well. However, his mood was made worse when he found out that Neo had drained the batteries on his gamepad last time she had 'borrowed' it, leaving him with a new game and nothing to play it on.

He was so slipping hot sauce into her next ice cream snack.

"If only there was something to keep me entertained," the Faunus sighed as he looked around.

Suddenly he saw team RWKBY sitting down outside a certain food truck and a sinister smirk appeared on his face. Walking into a dark alley, he activated his Semblance, allowing Kaito open up a distortion in the air, causing a medium sized Nevermore Grimm to drop onto the ground. Before anyone could notice, he activated his gamepad-like device that served as a weapon for him and stabbed the blaster end into the beast's side.

 **[Infection! Let's Game! Bad Game! Dead Game! What's your name?! The Bugster!]**

xXsceneXx

"Excellent," said Kazi happily as team RWKBY sat down at tables set up around the food truck with bowls of Mistral Curry in front of them, "I've been looking forward to this."

"You did give it quite the buildup," said Blake as she looked down at her food.

"I prefer less spicy foods myself," said Weiss, "but it does have a nice aroma."

"Well I love spicy food," said Yang, "I can't wait."

"Well let's dig in," said Ruby as the group got ready to enjoy their meal, but before they could try their first bites, a blast of wind blew through, knocking aside the tables and their food and capsizing the truck, leaving the Huntsmen in training frozen with their spoons ready to sample the food.

Looking up, team RWKBY saw what had caused the destruction, another Bugster Grimm, this one looking like a harpy-esque creature with six black wings in addition to the cracked white armor resembling that of Ex-Aid.

"One of those game monster things," said Ruby as she jumped up, pointing at the creature.

"A Bugster," frowned Kazi as he pulled out his Gashat and placed the Gamer Driver on his waist, "that means Kaito is behind this."

 **[Mighty Action X!]**

" _Henshin,_ " said Kazi as he inserted the Gashat and pulled the lever across his Driver, " _Second Shift!_ "

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]**

The Kamen Rider charged forward, summoning his Gashacon Breaker in sword mode to bat aside the razor feathers that the beast launched at him before using his jumping power to leap into the air at the Bugster with his weapon ready to cut it down, however the Nevermore Bugster flapped its wings, sending a blast of air that knocked Ex-Aid back to the ground and several feathers that struck him and lowered his life gauge by several points.

"Damnit," said Ex-Aid as he bounced off the ground, "I need more armor."

The Kamen Rider pulled out his Gekitotsu Robots Gashat, but before he could activate it, several more feathers were launched at him, knocking it from his hands while also slamming into his armor, depleting several life points from his gauge.

"Crap!" exclaimed Ex-Aid as he skidded across the ground, "I can't change levels like this."

Ex-Aid looked up as he heard the Bugster screech and saw it preparing to fire another volley. Cringing behind his mask, he knew that he wouldn't be able to evade another barrage without losing a critical amount of life points. Suddenly though, several High-Caliber dust rounds slammed into the Bugster, stunning it and forcing it to land on a street light.

"Bullseye!" exclaimed Ruby, causing the Kamen Rider to turn around and see that his team leader had called her rocket locker and retrieved Crescent Rose from it, with the rest of Team RWKBY doing the same with their weapons.

"What are you doing?" asked Ex-Aid in surprise.

"We're going to help," said Weiss firmly as she retrieved Myrtenaster and checked the Dust compartments.

"We're a team," said Blake simply, "that means something."

"And don't try to talk us out of it," said Ruby, leaving no room for argument.

The Kamen Rider shook his head fondly and chuckled before turning back to the enraged Bugster, "Right, we need to immobilize it somehow. I need my Level 3 armor to hold out against its attacks, but that means I don't have the mobility or range to do any real damage against it."

"Leave it to us," said Ruby as the Bugster took flight again and prepared to launch more of its destructive feathers, "Yang go!"

As the Bugster fired off several more of its razor-sharp feathers, the blond brawler of team RWKBY jumped forward and punched forward several times with her weapon Ember Celica, firing several explosive Dust shells that detonated the feathers upon impact, giving Ex-Aid the opening he needed to pull the Level 3 Gashat into his hand with his Semblance. Ruby and Blake then switched their weapons to gun mode and opened fire on the Bugster, forcing it into a defensive position that gave Ex-Aid enough time to slot in his new Gashat.

 **[Gekitotsu Robots!]**

" _Henshin: Third Shift!_ "

 **[A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!]**

"Right," said Ex-Aid, feeling his power increase thanks to his new Level, "I can take it down, but I don't have the speed or agility to get in close in this form."

"We've got your back," said Yang, "we'll slow it down, and you bring the pain."

"Team RWKBY GO!" said Ruby, "Blake, Weiss, Checkmate!"

Weiss brandished her rapier, creating several glyphs in the air that Blake used as platforms to leap off of, allowing her to get in closer to the Bugster, using her Semblance to dodge attacks from the beast by substituting with her clones. Switching Gambol Shroud to kusarigama mode, Blake used the recoil from the weapon's gun to launch the blade at Bugster's wings, wrapping the ribbon around one of them on the left side, immobilizing them.

"Ice Flower!" yelled Ruby as she raised her rifle with Weiss creating glyphs in front of the barrel that charged the shots with frigid energy which froze one of the three wings on the right side. Continuing with a powerful tug, Blake severed the wing she had bound while a shot from Yang's Gauntlets shattered the one that had been frozen.

Seeing that it had been seriously wounded by the Huntsmen in training, the transformed Grimm extended its remaining wings and began to take off, trying to escape the onslaught that they were inflicting upon it, but Ex-Aid was ready and slotted his Gekitotsu Robots Gashat into his Finisher slot, pressing the button as well.

 **[Kimewaza! Gekitotsu Critical Strike!]**

"Yang, boost!" yelled Ex-Aid as he punched forward, launching his mechanical fist at the Bugster, the impact knocking it higher into the air.

"Got it!" said Yang as she tossed him into the air, using the blast force from her gauntlets to propel him further.

Flying through the air at high speed, Ex-Aid thrust his fist forwards, sheathing his arm back in the robotic gauntlet at an angle that sent the Bugster flying into the ground, leaving a large crater around the area of impact.

 **[PERFECT!]**

Ex-Aid landed on the ground in a crouch that had his robot fist punching the pavement (think iron man from the movies) while the Bugster Grimm began to dissolve into smoke like the rest of its kind did, but suddenly the smoke was sucked away and, following the direction of the trail, they saw Kaito sitting on a ledge holding out his purple device as it absorbed the remains of the Bugster.

"Thanks for the interesting diversion," smiled Kaito as he waved his weapon tauntingly, "really made the trip into town worthwhile."

"What is wrong with you?" demanded Weiss, "You put people in danger and treat it like a game!"

"Because," smirked Kaito as he rose to his feet and pulled the hood of his cat-hoodie off his head, "life is one big game and we are all but players. Ciao."

With that, he nimbly flipped off the ledge and quickly vanished into the alleyways and streets. As Kazi dispelled his transformation, he mused about how his teammates had been instrumental in defeating the flying Bugster. He would need to push production of his next Gashat up in priority, but maybe he could work on something for them as well. Something to keep them safe in his fight against the ones who killed his father.


	11. Stage 11: Party Member Conflict

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **Sorry in advance for this chapter. I was suffering from a bit of writer's block as I tried to stretch out the Volume 1 arc, and I hope that this chapter hasn't suffered too much because of it. I honestly have the general outline of the plot set up for this fic stretching into the early parts of Volume 4, so I have little intention of abandoning this fic any time soon.**

 **With that said, let's begin.**

 **Disclaimer: Monty Oum owns Rwby and Toei owns Kamen Rider**

It had been a few days since the Bugster attack and Team RWKBY was taking advantage of a free weekend to spend some time in Vale. All around them, decorations were being put up as the people of Vale prepared for the upcoming Vytal Festival, with much excitement being shared in the civilians and students, as the festival was going to be quite the event. Team RWKBY found themselves walking by the docks as ships came in with students and faculty from other Academies, all intent on participating in the Festival events.

"he Vytal Festival!" exclaimed Weiss happily with arms stretched up in glee, "Oh, this is absolutely _wonderful_!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss," said Ruby with a frown as she edged away from her unusually happy partner, "it's kinda weirding me out…"

"You're not the only one," said Kazi, "I don't think I've ever seen her smile this much…or for this long."

"How could you not smile?" exclaimed Weiss as she rounded on her teammates, "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

"She does have a point," mused Kazi.

"But it sounds so boring now," groaned Yang.

"Quiet you!" snapped Weiss.

"Why are we visiting the docks again?" asked Yang as she looked around.

"Yeah," said Ruby as she covered her nose, "they smell like fish!"

"It's not that bad," muttered Blake as her ribbon twitched slightly.

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today," huffed Weiss, "and, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"

"Translation, she wants to gather intel on them for the tournament by spying," deadpanned Blake.

"You have no evidence!" scoffed Weiss.

"In any case," sighed Kazi, "getting some recon isn't the worst idea."

The rest of the team shrugged and continued on their way, but as they walked, something caught Ruby's attention.

"Hey guys," said Ruby, "look over there."

The group turned in the direction their red-clad leader was pointing and saw a taped off Dust Shop that had the windows smashed in.

"What happened over here?" Ruby asked as she ran up to one of the officers.

"Robbery," said the officer, "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

"They left all the money again," said the other officer to his partner, "just like all the other ones."

"Huh?" said Ruby in surprise.

"Yeah," agreed the first, "doesn't make any sense. I mean, who need's that much Dust anyways?"

"Dunno," said the second, "an army maybe?"

"You thinking it's the White Fang?" asked the first officer.

"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough for this," sighed the second as they walked off.

"Hmph," scoffed Weiss, "the White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's _your_ problem?" asked Blake angrily as Kazi leveled an icy glare at the heiress.

"My problem?" huffed Weiss, "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"I _beg_ your pardon?" said Kazi in a tone that would freeze water.

"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths," said Blake seriously, "they're just a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided?" asked Weiss indignantly, "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"Who the hell told you that crap?" asked Kazi angrily, "If that's what you think, then you know NOTHING. The White Fang fight for equality, as opposed to the discrimination and oppression that we face now."

"Oh?" retorted Weiss, "Then why all the violence and destruction of private property?"

"They're just misguided!" said Blake, "Besides, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

"Blake does have a point," said Ruby, "and they never caught that Torchwick guy. Maybe it was him?"

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," said Weiss angrily, "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

As if to verify her claim, an angry shout could be heard from one of the ships as a blond teen with a monkey tail leapt off the desk and onto the ground with surprising agility.

"Hey thanks for the ride guys," laughed the blond Faunus.

"You no-good stowaway!" yelled one of the sailors.

"Hey now," said the Faunus as he hung from a lamppost with his tail and ate a banana, "a 'no-good' stowaway would be caught. I'm a _great_ stowaway."

The simian Faunus then leapt to the ground, tossing away his banana peel, before running off, prompting several officials to give chase, leaving Team RWKBY just standing there.

"…well Weiss," said Yang after a moment, "you wanted to observe the competition, right? Well there he goes."

This snapped Weiss out of her stupor real fast, "Quick! We have to chase him!"

The teens quickly gave chase with Weiss leading the charge, but it was no use. Adding injury to insult, as the heiress turned a corner, she slammed into a surprisingly solid figure and knocked them both to the ground.

"No!" groaned Weiss, "He got away!"

"Um, Weiss," said Yang as she pointed to the figure that the heiress had run into, causing her to look and see that she was practically straddling an orange haired girl wearing a grey and green outfit. Upon noticing this, the heiress quickly jumped to her feet and smoothed out her outfit.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!" said the girl happily without moving from the ground.

"…Hello?" said Ruby hesitantly.

"Are you…ok?" asked Yang.

"I'm _wonderful_ ," said the girl happily, "thank you for asking."

A beat passed as the team looked at each other before Yang elected to address the Goliath in the room, "Do you…want to get up?"

The girl seemed to think about if for a moment before smiling again, "Yes!"

Leaping to her feet so quick that the group stepped back in surprise, the girl stood tall and addressed the group, "My name is Penny Polendina. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi Penny," said Ruby, "I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss," said Weiss.

"Kazi," said Kazi as he raised a hand in greeting.

"Blake," said their black clad teammate with a nod.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" asked Yang, prompting Blake to elbow her in the side, "Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Penny with a smile.

"You already said that," said Weiss.

"…So I did," said Penny.

"Well…sorry for running into you," said Weiss as the group turned to leave.

"Take care friend," said Ruby as she waved goodbye.

"She was…weird," said Yang once they had walked a bit.

"Now," said Weiss, "where did that Faunus riff-raff go to?"

Suddenly, Penny practically appeared in front of them, causing the group to jump back in surprise.

"What did you call me?"

"Oh," said Yang, "I'm really sorry. I didn't think you heard me."

"No, not you," said Penny before pointing to Ruby, " _You._ "

" _Me?_ " said Ruby in surprise, "I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh…"

"You called me 'friend'!" said Penny, "Am I really your _friend_?"

"Ummm," said Ruby, glancing over Penny's shoulder to see Yang, Weiss and Blake giving 'deny deny deny!' signs, while Kazi just shrugged, "Y-yeah, sure! Why not?"

"Sen-sational!" said Penny happily, "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"So…what are yoi doing in Vale?" asked Yang, trying to change the subject.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," said Penny confidently.

"Wait," said Weiss, " _You're_ fighting in the tournament?"

Penny nodded and saluted, "I'm combat ready."

"You hardly look the part," said Weiss.

"Says the girl in the dress," commented Blake.

"It's a combat skirt," said Weiss as she crossed her arms.

"Yeaah," said Ruby as she slid up next to her and gave her partner a low-five.

"Wait a minute," said Weiss, ""If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"

"The who?" asked Penny, tilting her head in confusion.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" exclaimed Weiss.

"Why do you keep saying that?" asked Blake angrily as Kazi gave the heiress an icy death glare.

"Huh?" asked Weiss as she turned to Blake.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion!" said Blake angrily Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh I'm sorry," said Weiss sarcastically, "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Then I guess I should start calling you a self-absorbed, spoiled brat of an heiress then?" retorted Kazi icily, "I mean that is what we're doing right?"

"Why are you angry at me?" asked Weiss, "He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

"You are an ignorant little bitch!" growled Kazi.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" exclaimed Weiss, offended, "I am your teammate!"

" _You_ are a judgmental little girl!" snapped Blake.

"What in the world makes you say that?" demanded Weiss indignantly.

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" snapped Blake.

"Ruby," said Yang as their team, continued to fight, "we should probably go."

"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" said Weiss.

"Sure," said Kazi, "but only if you admit that you're a judgmental little bitch whose family's actions and views on the subject are the reason Faunus feel the need to resort to such drastic tactics."

"Why you…!" growled Weiss.

xXsceneXx

That evening, the argument was still going on, with Blake and Wiess still yelling, and Kazi having opted to give the heiress the cold shoulder as he worked on his computer.

"I don't understand _why_ is causing such a problem!" protested Weiss.

"That _is_ the problem!" snapped Blake.

"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you?" said Weiss as she rose from her bed, "The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

"There's no such thing as pure evil!" yelled Blake, "Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?" said Weiss indignantly.

"You're discriminatory!" said Blake.

"I'm a victim!" snapped Weiss.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" she asked in a low, angry voice, "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

"Weiss…" said Ruby as she moved to comfort her partner.

"No!" exclaimed Weiss angrily before rounding on Blake, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" yelled Blake angrily before she could stop herself.

The room was silent at that outburst as the revelation it gave began to sink in. Weiss could only stare at Blake and took an involuntary step back as her Black themed teammate looked around in horror as she realized what she had just let slip. Before anyone could stop her, she rushed out the door, leaving the room silent.

"But…I," began Weiss before a loud slam was heard and Kazi rose to his feet, having slammed the lid of his laptop closed.

"This is what I was talking about, Schnee," he said in a tone that would make a winter in Atlas feel like a blistering desert heat, "you act all high and mighty, yet you know NOTHING!"

"Oh, and you know _so_ much about the White Fang," said Weiss angrily.

"Yes," said Kazi, causing Weiss to blink in surprise, "I do."

"Wh-what?" said Weiss in surprise.

"I've told you about my father," said Kazi, "it's time you hear about my mother. To sum it up, she was a member of the White Fang, or at least what the group was before their current leader changed them and their motives. She believed in peaceful protest without violence in order to bring equality between humans and Faunus, and my father agreed with her, even offering funding to help them in their efforts. When the group changed in leadership and became a group willing to use violence, she continued to work within their ranks to bring forth equality. My point being, the White Fang isn't only a group of terrorists and psychopaths that want death and destruction, and not all Faunus want that either. Some of us just want to be able to walk down the street without people judging us as animals."

With that, he pulled the curtain around his part of the room and turned in for the night, leaving Weiss with a lot to think about.

 **Ok, I know Kazi's views on the White Fang's manifesto are a bit off, but there's a reason for that. In canon, their motives are always unclear. Roman Torchwick, a human that is a liar and a crook, who sees the White Fang as a bunch of rabid animals, says they want to have humans locked up or exterminated. Weiss Schnee, an heiress who has probably grown up being fed a biased view from her father, says they want the total extermination of all humans. Sienna Khan, the current leader of said group, simply wants Faunus to gain a presence through humanity fearing them. Add this in and the fact that Kazi's mother worked with the White Fang when Blake's father led them as a peaceful protest group, and you see where his views come from.**


	12. Stage 12: PVP

**It's How You Play the Game**

 **So, as I write this chapter, I am faced with a conundrum. I have some basic plans for Volumes 4 and onward, but aside from new powerups for the villains, I don't have a good plan for how I want to pull off the plot material for after the Battle of Beacon. I will accept and consider any ideas and suggestions so long as they aren't ridiculous.**

 **In any case.**

 **Disclaimer: Toei owns Kamen Rider and RWBY was created by Monty Oum.**

 **Note: 8/11/2019 – So I am re-posting this with edits and extensions to hopefully make it seem less rushed. Sorry about before.**

The next day was a weekend, meaning that the remaining members of Team RWKBY had the day off, and Ruby decided to make good use of it by gathering her team to scour the streets for their missing friend.

"Blaaaaake!" yelled Ruby as the team passed by From Dust till Dawn in their search for their missing teammate.

"Blaaaaake!" Yang called out as well, "Weiss is sorry and said she wants to apologize!"

"I said nothing of the sort!" protested Weiss indignantly.

"Really?" asked Kazi coolly with a raised eyebrow as he followed them.

"Look," said Weiss as she crossed her arms, "I said I'd keep an open mind and hear her out, but I'm not ready to pass forgiveness or judgement just yet."

"Fair enough," said Kazi, "though you could help us look."

"Yeah Weiss," said Ruby as she turned to her partner with her hands on her hips, "Blake's our friend!"

"She was lying to us!" said Weiss with a frown, "All this time! And now you want to act like everything's alright?"

"I'm sure she had her reasons," said Ruby, "and as her team, we need to give her a chance to explain herself."

"I look forward to that," said Weiss, "then you'll know that I was right!"

"In any case," said Yang as Kazi pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "we need to find her first."

"I still think we're being far too quick to forgive," said Weiss.

"Well I think we should give her a chance," countered Ruby.

"And I think that Weiss's hair looks great today," said Penny, suddenly appearing behind the group, causing the group to jump and do a quick about face.

"Gah! Penny where did you come from?" exclaimed Ruby in surprise.

"Hello everyone," said Penny as she seemingly ignored the question, "what are you up to?"

"Uhhh," said Ruby hesitantly.

"We're looking for our friend, Blake," said Yang, answering for her sister.

"Oh, you mean the Faunus girl," said Penny as she pounded her fist into her palm.

A beat passed as the female members of Team RWKBY stared at Penny warily.

"Wait…how did you know that?" asked Ruby.

"Uh, the cat ears?" said Penny as if it was obvious as she pointed at her head.

"What cat ears?" asked Yang, "She wears a bow…"

Another beat passes and a tumbleweed blows by as the realization sinks in along with an awkward silence.

"…she does really like tuna," mused Ruby awkwardly.

"You guys really never noticed?" asked Kazi, causing the girls to turn to face him.

"You knew?!" exclaimed Weiss.

"Well, yeah," said Kazi.

"HOW?" exclaimed Ruby.

"Simple," said Kazi with a shrug, "bows don't twitch."

Yet another beat passes as the girls process that, with another tumbleweed blowing by.

"So," said Penny, seemingly not noticing the awkward silence, "where is she?"

"We don't know," said Ruby sadly, "she's been missing since Friday."

"That's terrible!" gasped Penny before walking up to Ruby and taking her hands in her own, "Well don't you worry Ruby my friend! I won't rest until you find your teammate!"

"Uh, right," said Ruby nervously as she put on a strained smile, "that's really nice of you Penny, but we're ok. We got this. Right guys?"

Ruby turned to get support from her team, but only saw Kazi standing there, with empty space where Weiss and Yang had been standing before.

"They left a while ago," sighed Kazi, causing Ruby to slump.

"So," said Penny, "what's the plan friend Ruby?"

"Well," said Ruby as she composed herself, "I guess we just need to look around."

"Right," said Penny, "then lead on Ruby."

"Right," said the redhead hesitantly as the trio continued their search through the streets.

"So, friend Ruby," said Penny, "why did Blake leave?"

"It's complicated," said Ruby sadly, "we had an argument."

"The argument was thanks to Weiss," said Kazi, "the rest of us are worried and want to find her."

"So, Blake is your friend?" asked Penny as she tilted her head inquisitively.

"Yeah," said Kazi, "she is."

"But you're mad at her," noted Penny.

"Yes," said Ruby before correcting herself, "well, I'm not. Weiss is though."

"Is _she_ friends with Blake?" asked Penny.

"That's a bit complicated right now," said Kazi.

"Why is that?" asked Penny.

"You see," said Ruby, "Blake wasn't who we thought she was."

"You mean…" said Penny, "is she a _man_?"

"No no!" exclaimed Ruby as Kazi burst out laughing from the ridiculousness of the idea, "She's…I don't know. We didn't get a lot of time to talk when she ran off."

"I don't have a lot of friends," said Penny as Kazi composed himself, "but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."

"So, would we," sighed Kazi, "so would we."

The trio continued their search, but were interrupted when there was a sudden and loud explosion from the nearby Bullhead Docking Port.

"You don't think…" said Kazi worriedly.

"Oh no," said Ruby before rushing off toward the docking port with Penny following close after.

"Damnit," swore Kazi as he tried to keep up with them, "Ruby wait!"

Unfortunately for the him, Ruby and Penny's superior speed meant that they arrived on the scene first, just in time to see Roman Torchwick aiming his Melodic Cudgel at the head of the Monkey Faunus they had seen earlier, with Blake stuck dealing with White Fang troops on the side.

"HEY!" yelled Ruby, attracting the criminal's attention as she unsheathed Crescent Rose.

"Well hello Red," said Torchwick mockingly as he rested his cane-weapon on his shoulder, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby," said Penny as she walked up, "are these people your friends?"

"Penny get back!" yelled Ruby, but the distraction gave Roman enough time to fire off a shot from his weapon that would have struck and badly injured her, had the blast not been intercepted by a flying Gashacon Breaker in hammer mode.

"Great," groaned Roman as Ex Aid landed next to the two redheads in a crouch.

"You know you really didn't learn your lesson, have you Torchdick," mocked the Kamen Rider, causing some of the White Fang to snigger at the insult.

"Well you see," ground out Roman, more than a little pissed at the nickname, "I have help how, and he's been itching for a rematch with you."

"And who would be stupid enough…" began the Kamen Rider, but an energy blast hit him in the chest, sending him skidding across the ground as Kaito leapt down from an approaching aircraft and landed in a crouch.

"Remember me?" asked the Faunus.

"You," growled Ex Aid, "so you're working with Torchdick."

"It's TorchWICK!" protested Roman, but everybody ignored him.

"More I'm working with his boss actually," shrugged Kaito casually, "but our motives seem to align at the moment, so I'm going to have to stop you."

"Ruby," said Ex Aid as he pulled himself to his feet and pulled out the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat, "you might want to get clear."

Ruby nodded and went to help Penny, who had started dealing with the White Fang with several floating swords that she had taken from her backpack, and the Kamen Rider faced his opponent.

"That device," said Ex-Aid as he pointed to the purple device that Kaito used to fight and create Bugsters, "you stole that from Hyperion."

"Actually, I built it," said Kaito, "but I don't deny that the plans came from your Father's company. I did make improvements to the original designs though. That 'Gamer Driver' is so inferior to my Bugvisor."

"Then that makes this easy," said Ex Aid, "you're going to give me answers about the attack, even if I have to beat it out of you. If you try to create a Bugster, I'll take you out before you can summon a Grimm."

Ex Aid slotted the Gashat into his Driver and pulled the handle on it, causing his Robot Gamer Armor to appear and attach to his body, getting into a fighting stance.

 **[A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!]**

"Hmm," mused Kaito, "it's true that you've been able to deal with the mobs and bosses you've faced so far, so perhaps it's time for something different."

A distortion appeared and deposited a metal object similar to a belt buckle in Kaito's hand. Placing it on his waist caused a belt to form to hold it in place, allowing him to attach his weapon to it.

 **[Gachan!]**

"Witness the true potential of the of your father's work," said Kaito as he pulled out his Gashat, "as now we turn this PVE into a PVP."

 **[Dangerous Zombie!]**

Smirking, Kaito pressed an activator button on his Driver, causing energy to arc out of the Gashat as a miasma surrounded him, obscuring him from view as the cloud of darkness flashed with bolts of power.

 **[Buggle Up! Danger! Danger! (Genocide!) Death the Crisis! Dangerous Zombie!]**

A holographic screen appeared in front of the dark cloud, but unlike with Ex Aid, the screen was shattered as an armored figure punched its way through, revealing a humanoid figure that wore cracked white armor that resembled that of his Bugsters, but more similar to Ex-Aid's rider armor than that of the Bugsters.

"Hahahaha!" laughed the transformed Faunus a he relished in the power of his new form, "New Player Loading: Kamen Rider Noire: Zombie Gamer Level 5."

Ex Aid grimaced behind his helmet, knowing that this was going to be a difficult fight due the gap in their Levels and Power, but he raised his gauntleted fist as he got into a fighting stance. Letting out a laugh, Noire rushed forward at Ex Aid, dodging a swing from the other Rider's fist and landing a punch to his torso that sent him staggering back. Regaining his bearings, Ex Aid swung his robotic fist at the enemy Rider, but Noire's agility allowed him to dodge the blow by bending backwards, flowing into a flip that allowed him to slam his feet into Ex Aid's helmet.

"You seem a bit slow today," laughed Noire, "where's those stats you used to beat my Bugsters?"

"Just shut up!" yelled Ex Aid as he swung his fist at Noire again, but received a punch to the torso in response.

As the Kamen Rider staggered back, Noire followed through with two quick jabs and a series of jump kicks that sent his opponent flying back across the ground. While this was happening, the White Fang had not been idle, though they weren't having an easy time, as Penny had stepped forward to fight them. Alone.

Normally, a single teenage girl against a large group of trained terrorists would be a bad idea in any situation, but the odd teen that had befriended Ruby was holding her own with her own unusual choice of weapon. Extended from the bag on her back, several swords were whipping around being held by thin wires, allowing the girl to tear through the ranks of the White Fang, with them not even being able to get off a shot, as her blades cut through their guns as soon as they brought them to bear.

Suffice it to say, that the White Fang were caught completely off guard by the girl's skill and strength, keeping them occupied with fighting the orangette, and leaving Roman unguarded. Blake quickly took advantage of this to put Roman on the defensive as she wielded Gambol Shroud with skill and agility in sword mode.

While this fight was going on, Ex Aid was being pushed to his limits as he tried to take on Noire, but his opponent's superior agility and Level meant that his bulkier armored form was at a disadvantage as Noire danced around his lumbering swings of his gauntleted fist and landed punches and kicks on the other Rider, knocking him around and slowly depleting his Life Gauge.

"Face it," taunted the Dark Rider as he landed several more hits on Ex Aid, "I'm stronger! Faster! Better! You can't compete with my Level!"

Ex Aid tumbled across the ground and his Level Three armor dispelled, leaving him in Level Two form with his health bar at half.

 **[Gahsun!]**

"Maybe you're right," ground out Ex Aid as he pulled himself to his feet, "Gekitotsu Robots wasn't the best option to use against you. Lucky for me though, I just managed to finish a new Gashat. I think you'll make a good target to test it on."

The Kamen Rider pulled out a yellow colored Gashat and pressed the activator on it, causing a pixilated wave to shoot forth.

 **[DoReMiFa Beat!]**

"Seriously?" laughed Noire, "You're going to fight me with that?!"

"Believe it," said Ex Aid as he slotted the Gashat into his Driver, " _Henshin: Third Shift!_ "

A yellow floating object appeared in the air and floated around Ex Aid as the Rider pulled the activation lever on his Driver, causing the floating object to split apart and attack itself like armor to the Kamen Rider.

 **[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X! A Gacha! Do-Do-DoReMiFa-So-La-Ti-Do! OK! DoReMiFa Beat!]**

"Do you seriously think you stand a chance with just a Level 3 game?" laughed Noire.

"We're about to find out," said Ex Aid as he scratched the discs on a turntable that was attached to his arm, causing music to play.

(play Gold: RWBY Vol 1 Soundtrack)

Ex Aid moved forward with the beat of the music, flowing with the beat as Noire threw a series of punches at him, dodging each one without breaking the rhythm before landing a punch of his own that surprisingly made the Dark Rider stagger back. Hissing, the Rider threw a spinning roundhouse jump-kick at Ex-Aid, but the attack didn't even make him stagger as a loud buzzer sounded upon impact.

 **[MISS!]**

"What the heck?" exclaimed Noire, but before he could react, Ex Aid landed a kick followed by two punches to the solar plexus as the song went into the chorus, dodging Noire's attempts to strike back.

Ex Aid continued to attack, flowing around Noire's punches and kicks as he let himself move with the beat of the song that was being played, throwing out punches of his own to the rhythm of the music. Several times, Noire managed to get a lucky shot in time with the beat, but Ex Aid didn't let that break his rhythm and kept dance-fighting, slowly whittling down his enemy's health bar.

As the song moved into a more lively chorus, Ex Aid moved faster, landing several more hits on Noire, while the Dark Rider's off-beat attacks continued to do nothing when they made contact due to the effects of the new Gashat. Ex Aid then performed a jump-kick on the enemy Rider as the song reached its climax, knocking him back into some containers of Dust.

(end song)

"Now," said Ex-Aid, "let's end this game."

The Kamen Rider pulled the Gashat out of his Driver and slotted it into a slot on his hip, pressing a button on said slot once the Gashat was inserted.

 **[Gashat! Kimewaza! DoReMiFa Critical Strike!]**

Rainbow colored light gathered around the Kamen Rider's gauntlets as a fast and upbeat song began to play from the turntables on his arm and said Rider punched forwards, sending out energy constructs shaped as musical notes that slammed into him and exploded, keeping pace with the fast beat of the music. Once the music reached its crescendo, Ex Aid punched forward one last time, sending a barrage of notes into Noire, creating a large explosion at the exact moment that Penny slammed a Bullhead into the docks using her swords.

 **[PERFECT!]**

When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the enemy rider, but carved into the concrete was a message, 'Let's play again sometime.'


End file.
